Erstwhile director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, has asked that the U.S. Republican Party be completely razed and rebuilt.

ABC News reported the ex-FBI boss to have said Thursday that the party which recently lost its grip on power following the failed reelection bid of former President Donald Trump, was no longer valuable to the American people.

“The Republican Party has to be burned to the ground, in some form or fashion,” Mr. Comey was reported to have said during a TV appearance. “It doesn’t stand for anything that is valuable to our country.”

The former law enforcement chief, who was ousted from office in 2017 for his frequent criticism of the Trump administration, described Mr. Trump as an antisocial politician backed by his party, who had only sought to appeal to the prejudices of people rather than through rational argument.

“It (Republican Party) doesn’t stand for anything, that is other than a cult of personality around a man (Mr. Trump) who is a demagogue and a liar,” the former FBI director said.

“If it’s going to survive, and we need two healthy parties to have a healthy democracy, it has to be rebuilt in some way,” he stated, while adding “I think you may see principled Republicans splitting off or finding a way to push the Trumpers off, so they can reconstitute the Republican Party on a set of real values.”

Mr. Trump had during the last days of his largely tumultuous first tenure as U.S. president, fallen out of favour with the Republican Party’s leadership over his alleged incitement of a mob action at the Capitol on January 6. 

The Wall Street Journal recently reported ongoing moves by the former U.S. leader to float a new political party christened the ‘Patriot Party.’