Comey critical of President Trump during Sarasota town hall

SARASOTA, Fla. (FOX 13) - It was the breakup heard around the world that people are still talking about -- even James Comey himself.

At a town hall lecture in Sarasota Monday, Comey spoke candidly with the media before his speech, calling the special council Robert Mueller probe into election interference by Russia a serious investigation.

“I hope that people don’t hope for a particular outcome," Comey said. "We should all root only that the work be finished and that the facts be found. Whatever they are, they are.”

Comey was fired by Trump back in May 2017, and the war of words has been ongoing. The former director says upon meeting the president, his first impression was: “He is one of the worst listeners as a leader that I’ve ever seen, and all of us who have thought about leadership that’s deeply concerning, and that he doesn’t have an external framework," Comey said.

But when it came to partisan opinions Monday, those who came to see Comey's speech wanted to keep partisanship out of it.

"He's an equal-opportunity victim of criticism," said Joe Mendels, who attended the speech. "He's been criticized by President Trump, he's been criticized by the Democrats for how he handled the Clinton email investigation."

It's that investigation's findings Comey won't budge on.

"There is zero chance, zero chance, on the facts in the Hillary Clinton case, that she would be prosecuted," Comey said. "You are out of your mind if you don't think the FBI wanted to make a case if we could. The facts weren't there. Period. Full stop."