James Comey

James Comey (born December 14, 1960, Yonkers, New York, U.S.) is a U.S. attorney and law enforcement official who served as director (2013–17) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Early life

Comey came from an Irish American family. His paternal grandfather was a police officer, and his father worked in commercial real estate. Comey grew up in Allendale, New Jersey, and he later studied chemistry and religion at the College of William & Mary. After graduating in 1982, he earned a law degree (1985) from the University of Chicago.

Legal career and acting attorney general

As a young lawyer, Comey worked mostly in the offices of United States attorneys (federal prosecuting attorneys with regional jurisdiction). In 1987 he became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, serving under Rudolph W. Giuliani. In 1993 he moved to Virginia and became a partner in the McGuireWoods law firm. Returning to government service, Comey became an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1996. In 2002 he was promoted to U.S. attorney and put in charge of his old jurisdiction, the New York Southern District. In a high-profile case, his office brought charges of financial misconduct against the homemaking entrepreneur Martha Stewart; she was convicted in 2004.

In December 2003 Comey became deputy attorney general, the second highest official in the Department of Justice (DOJ). Serving as acting attorney general in 2004, during the incapacity of Attorney General John Ashcroft, he thwarted efforts by officials in Pres. George W. Bush’s administration to obtain legal clearance for an aggressive domestic eavesdropping program. The same people who applauded this action, however, later criticized Comey’s spirited defense of the government’s detention of suspected terrorist Jose Padilla, an American citizen, as an enemy combatant. (See also war on terrorism.) Comey left the Justice Department in 2005 to become general counsel of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, then the largest defense contractor. He later served as general counsel (2010–13) at Bridgewater Associates, then the largest hedge fund.

FBI director: Hillary Clinton e-mail inquiry, Donald Trump, and firing

In June 2013 Pres. Barack Obama officially nominated Comey to head the FBI, replacing the retiring Robert Mueller. Comey was easily confirmed by the Senate, and his 10-year term began on September 4, 2013. Notable events during his tenure included the agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server during her term as secretary of state. In July 2016, shortly before Clinton was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, Comey—in an unprecedented move—gave a press conference in which he questioned her judgment but announced that she had been cleared of criminal impropriety. The decision not to bring charges was sharply criticized by Clinton’s opponents, including the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. However, less than two weeks before the November 8 election, Comey effectively reopened the case when he sent a letter to Congress disclosing a review of recently discovered Clinton e-mails; at the time, Trump stated that the move had restored Comey’s reputation. Comey’s announcement that no criminal activity had been uncovered in the new e-mails came two days before the election, which Clinton lost.

After Trump was sworn in as president in January 2017, he reportedly asked Comey to continue as FBI director. In March Trump accused Obama of wiretapping his telephones during the presidential race, but Comey dismissed the allegations when he testified before a congressional committee later that month. However, Comey did confirm that since July 2016 the FBI had been investigating whether members of Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russian officials to win the election. Some criticized the director for not having publicly revealed the probe during the election—as he had when the FBI reviewed additional Clinton e-mails.

At a Senate hearing in May, Comey defended his handling of the Clinton inquiry and claimed that he felt “mildly nauseous” over the possibility that the FBI’s actions influenced the election. In addition, he touched on his agency’s investigation into Trump’s campaign advisers and alleged that Russian interference in U.S. elections would continue to be a major threat. Less than a week later, on May 9, Trump abruptly fired Comey, citing the recommendation of DOJ officials who faulted Comey’s conduct during the Clinton probe. Notably, the FBI director was accused of treating Clinton unfairly, with both the July press conference and the October letter to Congress being deemed inappropriate. Critics, however, alleged that Comey was dismissed because of the Russia inquiry, and Trump later conceded that the investigation had been one of his reasons for firing Comey.

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The DOJ’s inspector general oversaw a lengthy investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton case, and the final report was released in June 2018. While it was critical of Comey’s actions—notably, it called him “insubordinate” and concluded that his deviations from the FBI’s standard procedures damaged the agency’s reputation for fairness—it found no evidence that he had been politically motivated. In addition, the FBI was not faulted for its decision not to charge Clinton.

Memoir and later activities

In May 2017 Comey’s memo concerning a February meeting with Trump was leaked to the media. It notably claimed that the president had asked him to drop the FBI inquiry into Michael T. Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser who was being investigated as part of the Russia probe. Shortly after the memo’s release, Robert Mueller was named special counsel to the Russia investigation. In June Comey appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He testified that he had written memorandums on all his interactions with Trump, because of concerns that the president might lie about what was said. Furthermore, Comey revealed that he had indirectly leaked the memo in May in the hope that it would result in a special counsel being assigned to the Russia inquiry. Comey also stated that Trump was not being investigated by the FBI.

In 2018 Comey published the memoir A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, in which he was highly critical of Trump, alleging that the president was “unethical, and untethered to truth.” The book—as well as Comey’s often pointed comments during the ensuing media tour—drew the ire of Trump, who referred to Comey as a “slimeball.” The memoir later served as the basis for the miniseries The Comey Rule (2020), with Jeff Daniels in the lead role. Comey later wrote Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust (2021).