James Comey
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James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his termination in May 2017. During the presidential administration of George W. Bush, Comey was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from January 2002 to December 2003 and later the United States deputy attorney general from December 2003 to August 2005. In August 2005, Comey left the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to become a senior vice president of Lockheed Martin as general counsel. In 2010, he became general counsel at Bridgewater Associates. In early 2013, he left Bridgewater to become a senior research scholar and Hertog fellow on national security law at Columbia Law School. He served on the board of directors of HSBC Holdings until July 2013. In September 2013, Barack Obama appointed Comey to the position of Director of the FBI. During his tenure, Comey oversaw the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for official communications while serving as Secretary of State, some of which contained information later determined to be classified. His handling of the investigation, particularly his public statements and decision to reopen the investigation shortly before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, became a major source of controversy. On June 14, 2018, DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released his report on the FBI's handling of the Clinton email investigation, which criticized Comey's actions during the 2016 election. On May 9, 2017, Comey was fired by Donald Trump upon recommendation of the Department of Justice, which stated that Comey had mishandled the Clinton email investigation. Statements from Trump and the White House suggested that Comey had also been fired to ease the "pressure" Trump was under due to the Mueller investigation. Later that month, Comey allegedly arranged for a friend to leak to the press a memo he had written after a private meeting with the president; Comey denies wrongdoing. The memo said Trump had asked him to end the FBI's investigation into Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor. The dismissal, various memos detailing meetings with Trump, and Comey's subsequent Congressional testimony in June that same year were interpreted by some commentators as evidence of obstruction of justice on Trump's part and became part of the Mueller investigation. Horowitz found that Comey violated FBI policy with the leaked memos but saw no evidence he or his lawyers shared classified information, so the Department of Justice declined to prosecute him. In August 2019, the Office of the Inspector General found Comey's retention, handling, and dissemination of the memos violated DOJ policies, FBI policies, and his FBI employment agreement. In December 2019, Horowitz released a report finding no political bias against Trump by Comey or other FBI officials in their Russia probe, although other DOJ officials criticized that conclusion. In September 2025, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on one charge of making false statements and one charge of obstruction. He pleaded not guilty. On November 24, 2025, the case was dismissed by a federal judge.