James Comey

Early life

Comey was born in Yonkers, New York, on December 14, 1960, to parents Joan Marie and J. Brien Comey. His grandfather, William J. Comey, was an officer and later commissioner of the Yonkers Police Department. The family moved to Allendale, New Jersey, in the early 1970s. His father worked in corporate real estate and his mother was a computer consultant and homemaker. Comey is of Irish heritage. He attended Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale. In 1977, he and his brother were victims of a home invasion by a criminal called "The Ramsey Rapist". Comey graduated with honors from the College of William and Mary in 1982, majoring in chemistry and religion. In his senior thesis, Comey analyzed the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and the televangelist Jerry Falwell, emphasizing their common belief in public action. He received his J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985.

Early career (1985–1993)

After law school, Comey worked as a law clerk for then-United States district judge John M. Walker Jr. in Manhattan. Then, he worked as an associate for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in their New York office. He joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he worked from 1987 to 1993. While there, he was Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and helped prosecute the Gambino crime family.

Clinton administration (1996–2001)

Assistant U.S. attorney

From 1996 to 2001, Comey was Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In 1996, Comey acted as deputy special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee. He also was the lead prosecutor in the case concerning the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. While in Richmond, Comey was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Bush administration (2002–2005)

U.S. attorney

Comey was the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, from January 2002 to the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General on December 11, 2003. Among his first tasks was to take over the investigation into President Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich, which Comey concluded involved no illegality. In November 2002, he led the prosecution of three men involved in one of the largest identity fraud cases in American history. The fraud had lasted two years and resulted in thousands of people across the country collectively losing over $3 million. He also led the indictment of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas for bank fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud. Rigas was convicted of the charges in 2004 and in 2005, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Adelphia Corporation was forced to file for bankruptcy after it acknowledged that it took $3.3 billion in false loans. It was "one of the most elaborate and extensive corporate frauds in United States history".

In February 2003, Comey was the lead prosecutor of Martha Stewart, who was indicted on the charges of securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent. She sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems, thereby avoiding a loss of $45,673. The next day, the Food and Drug Administration refused to accept the company's application for Erbitux. In March 2003, he led the indictment of ImClone CEO Samuel Waksal, who pleaded guilty for avoiding paying $1.2 million in sales taxes on $15 million worth of contemporary paintings. The works were by Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, and Willem de Kooning. In April 2003, he led the indictment of Frank Quattrone, who allegedly urged subordinates in 2000 to destroy evidence sought by investigators looking into his investment banking practices at Credit Suisse First Boston. In June 2003, he revealed "Operation Project Meltdown", which started in January 1999 by the El Dorado Task Force, that found a money laundering scheme avoiding suspicious activity reports (SARs) from banks in which very large amounts of both gold and diamonds from West 47th Street jewelers in New York City were shipped to Colombia as profits of a Colombian narcotics cartel. This resulted in the arrests of eleven jewelry dealers and others including Luis Kuichis, owner of Alberto Jewelry, Jaime Ross, owner of Ross Refiners of 47 West 47th Street, and a father and son Roman and Eduard Nektakov, respectively, who are from Uzbekistan and immigrated to New York City in 1972 settling in Forest Hills and establishing Roman Jewelers in 1974 on West 47th Street. In November 2003, he led the prosecutions in "Operation Wooden Nickel", which resulted in complaints and indictments against 47 people involved in foreign exchange trading scams.

Deputy Attorney General (2003–2005)

Comey appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to be the special counsel to head the grand jury investigation into the Plame affair after Attorney General John Ashcroft recused himself.

In early January 2006, The New York Times, as part of its investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program, reported on an incident in which Comey and other Justice Department officials refused to certify the legality of central aspects of the National Security Agency (NSA) program. The DOJ had issued a finding that the domestic wiretapping under the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) was unconstitutional if such were done without a court warrant. Under White House procedures, DOJ approval was required in order for the program to be renewed. In early March 2004, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and Comey had prepared their resignations if the White House overruled the DOJ's finding that the program was unconstitutional.

On March 10, 2004, while the issue was still pending, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft was recovering in the intensive care unit at the George Washington University Hospital after gall bladder surgery. His wife was with him. He had recused himself from any Justice Department decisions while recovering, designating Comey as acting attorney general. In his hospital room he was visited by White House officials Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card, who pressured him to sign papers reauthorizing the domestic surveillance program. Alarmed by the situation, his wife called for Comey to join them, and he summoned FBI Director Mueller and two other DOJ officials, Jack Goldsmith and Patrick Philbin. None of the four would agree to reauthorize the program, and Ashcroft refused to take any action while he was recused. In Goldsmith's 2007 memoir, he said Comey had come to the hospital to support Ashcroft in withstanding pressure from the White House. Comey later confirmed these events took place in testimony to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on May 16, 2007. Mueller's notes on the March 10, 2004, incident, which were released to a House Judiciary committee, confirm that he "Saw (the) AG, John Ashcroft in the room (who was) feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed."

Comey and Mueller cancelled their plans to resign after meeting on March 12, 2004, directly with President Bush, who directed that requisite changes be made to the surveillance program.

Private sector (2005–2013)

Comey left the Department of Justice in August 2005. In August 2005, it was announced that Comey would enter the private sector, becoming the general counsel and senior vice president for Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Department of Defense's largest contractor. Comey's tenure took effect on October 1, 2005, serving in that capacity until June 2, 2010, when he announced he would leave Lockheed Martin to join the senior management committee at Bridgewater Associates, a Connecticut-based investment management firm. Comey received a three million dollar payout from Bridgewater. His net worth was estimated at 14 million dollars in 2013.

On February 1, 2013, after leaving Bridgewater, he was appointed by Columbia University Law School as a senior research scholar and Hertog fellow on national security law. He was also appointed to the board of directors of the London-based financial institution HSBC Holdings, to improve the company's compliance program after its $1.9 billion settlement with the Justice Department for failing to comply with basic due diligence requirements for money laundering regarding Mexican drug cartels and terrorism financing. Since 2012, he has also served on the Defense Legal Policy Board.

Testimony before congressional committees

In May 2007, Comey testified before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary and the House Judiciary subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law on the U.S. attorney dismissal controversy. His testimony contradicted that of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who had said the firings had been due to poor performance on the part of some of the dismissed prosecutors. Comey stressed that the Justice Department had to be perceived as nonpartisan and nonpolitical to function.

The Department of Justice, in my view, is run by political appointees of the President. The U.S. attorneys are political appointees of the President. But once they take those jobs and run this institution, it's very important in my view for that institution to be another in American life, that—because my people had to stand up before juries of all stripes, talk to sheriffs of all stripes, judges of all stripes. They had to be seen as the good guys, and not as either this administration or that administration.

Supreme Court considerations

Politico reported in May 2009, White House officials pushed for Comey's inclusion on the short list of names to replace Associate Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. Politico later reported liberal activists were upset about the possibility of Comey's name being included. John Brittain of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law stated, "[Comey] came in with the Bushies. What makes you think he'd be just an inch or two more to the center than [John] Roberts? I'd be greatly disappointed."

In 2013, Comey was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2013–2017)

The May 2013 reports became official the following month when President Barack Obama revealed that he would nominate Comey to be the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, replacing outgoing director Robert Mueller. Comey was reportedly chosen over another finalist, Lisa Monaco, who had overseen national security issues at the Justice Department during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012.

On July 29, 2013, the Senate confirmed Comey to a full ten-year term as FBI director. He was confirmed by a vote of 93–1. Two senators voted present. He was sworn in as FBI director on September 4, 2013. Comey was dismissed by President Donald Trump on May 9, 2017.

Police and African Americans

In February 2015, Comey delivered a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., regarding the relationship between police and the African-American community. He said that, "At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo – a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups", mentioning as an example his own Irish ancestors, who he said had, in the early 20th century, often been regarded by law enforcement as drunks and criminals. He added, "The Irish had some tough times, but little compares to the experience on our soil of black Americans", going on to highlight current societal issues such as lack of opportunities for employment and education which can lead young black men to crime. Comey stated:Police officers on patrol in our nation's cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can't help be influenced by the cynicism they feel. A mental shortcut becomes almost irresistible.

In October 2015, Comey gave a speech in which he raised concerns that body worn video results in less effective policing; this opinion contradicted the President's public position. Days later, President Obama met with Comey in the Oval Office to address the issue.

In an October 23 speech at the University of Chicago Law School, Comey said:I remember being asked why we were doing so much prosecuting in black neighborhoods and locking up so many black men. After all, Richmond was surrounded by areas with largely white populations. Surely there were drug dealers in the suburbs. My answer was simple: We are there in those neighborhoods because that's where people are dying. These are the guys we lock up because they are the predators choking off the life of a community. We did this work because we believed that all lives matter, especially the most vulnerable.

Comments on Poland and the Holocaust

In April 2015, Comey spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, arguing in favor of more Holocaust education. After The Washington Post printed a version of his speech, Anne Applebaum wrote that his reference to "the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary" was inaccurately saying that Poles were as responsible for the Holocaust as Germans. His speech was also criticized by Polish authorities, and Stephen D. Mull, United States ambassador to Poland, was called to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Applebaum wrote that Comey, "in a speech that was reprinted in The Post arguing for more Holocaust education, demonstrated just how badly he needs it himself".

Ambassador Mull issued an apology for Comey's remarks. When asked about his remarks, Comey said, "I regret linking Germany and Poland ... The Polish state bears no responsibility for the horrors imposed by the Nazis. I wish I had not used any other country names because my point was a universal one about human nature."

OPM data hack

In June 2015, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that it had been the target of a data breach targeting the records of as many as four million people. Later, Comey put the number at 18 million. The Washington Post has reported that the attack originated in China, citing unnamed government officials. Comey said: "It is a very big deal from a national security perspective and from a counterintelligence perspective. It's a treasure trove of information about everybody who has worked for, tried to work for, or works for the United States government."

Hillary Clinton email investigation

On July 10, 2015, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. On June 29, 2016, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was Comey's boss, and Bill Clinton met aboard her plane on the tarmac of the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, leading to calls for her recusal. Lynch then announced that she would "fully" accept the recommendation of the FBI regarding the probe. On July 2, FBI agents completed their investigation by interviewing Hillary Clinton at FBI headquarters, following which Comey and his associates decided there was no basis for criminal indictments in the case.

On July 5, 2016, Comey announced the FBI's recommendation that the United States Department of Justice file no criminal charges relating to the Hillary Clinton email controversy. During a 15-minute press conference in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Comey called Secretary Clinton's and her top aides' behavior "extremely careless", but concluded that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case". It was believed to be the first time the FBI disclosed its prosecutorial recommendation to the Department of Justice publicly. On July 7, 2016, Comey was questioned by a Republican-led House committee during a hearing regarding the FBI's recommendation.

On October 26, 2016, two weeks before the presidential election, Comey learned that FBI agents investigating an unrelated case involving former congressman Anthony Weiner had discovered emails on Weiner's computer between his wife, Huma Abedin, and Clinton. Claiming he believed it would take months to review Weiner's emails, Comey decided he had to inform Congress that the investigation was being reopened due to new information. Justice Department lawyers warned him that giving out public information about an investigation was inconsistent with department policy, but he considered the policy to be "guidance" rather than an ironclad rule. He decided that to not reveal the new information would be misleading to Congress and the public. On October 28, Comey sent a letter to members of Congress advising them that the FBI was reviewing more emails. Members of Congress revealed the information to the public within minutes. Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as the Clinton and Trump campaigns, called on Comey to provide additional details.

The Clinton campaign, former officials, and political commentators criticized his decision to announce the reopened investigation, which was described as an October surprise, a "serious mistake", and an "error in judgment". Law professor Richard Painter filed complaints with the United States Office of Special Counsel and the United States Office of Government Ethics over Comey's letter to Congress.

Russian election interference investigation

In late August 2016, the FBI acquired some reports from what would later be known as the Steele dossier. In late July, the FBI opened an investigation into the Trump campaign. Comey asked President Obama for permission to write an op-ed, which would warn the public that the Russians were interfering in the election. The president denied the request. CIA Director John O. Brennan then gave an unusual private briefing on the Russians to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid; Reid then publicly referred to the briefing. Comey, however, refused to confirm—even in classified congressional briefings—that the Trump Campaign was under investigation. In early October, meetings were held in the White House Situation Room; National Security Advisor Susan Rice argued that the information should be released, while Comey argued that disclosure was no longer needed.

In January 2017, Comey first met Trump when he briefed the president-elect on the Steele dossier. On January 27, 2017, Trump and Comey dined alone at the White House. According to Trump, Comey requested the dinner so as to ask to keep his job and, when asked, told Trump that he was not under investigation. Trump has stated that he did not ask Comey to pledge his loyalty. However, according to Comey's associates, Trump requested the dinner, asked Comey to pledge his loyalty, twice, to which Comey replied, twice, that he would always be honest, until Trump asked him if he would promise "honest loyalty", which Comey did.

On February 14, the day after President Trump fired Michael T. Flynn, Comey met with the president during a terrorism threat briefing in the Oval Office. At the end of the meeting Trump asked the other security chiefs to leave, then told Comey to consider imprisoning reporters over leaks and that "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." Comey, as is usual, immediately documented the meeting in a memo and shared it with FBI officials. In his congressional testimony, Comey clarified that he took Trump's comment to be "an order" to drop the Flynn investigation, but "that he did not consider this an order to drop the Russia investigation as a whole".

On March 4, Comey asked the Justice Department for permission, which was not given, to publicly refute Trump's claim that his phones had been wiretapped by then-President Obama.

Government surveillance oversight

In his July 2013 FBI confirmation hearing, Comey said that the oversight mechanisms of the U.S. government have sufficient privacy protections. In a November 2014 New York Times Magazine article, Yale historian Beverly Gage reported that Comey kept on his desk a copy of the FBI request to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. "as a reminder of the bureau's capacity to do wrong".

In 2016, Comey and his agency were criticized for their request to Apple Inc. to install a "back door" for U.S. surveillance agencies to use. Former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden stated: "Jim would like a back door available to American law enforcement in all devices globally. And, frankly, I think on balance that actually harms American safety and security, even though it might make Jim's job a bit easier in some specific circumstances." Comey, speaking at a cybersecurity conference in 2017, told the audience, "There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America; there is no place outside of judicial reach."

Dismissal

President Trump formally dismissed Comey on May 9, 2017, fewer than 4 years into his 10-year term as Director of the FBI. Comey first learned of his termination from television news reports that flashed on screen while he was delivering a speech to agents at the Los Angeles Field Office. Sources said he was surprised and caught off guard by the termination. Comey immediately departed for Washington, D.C., and was forced to cancel his scheduled speech that night at an FBI recruitment event. Trump reportedly called Deputy Director Andrew McCabe the next day, demanding to know why Comey had been allowed to fly back to Washington on an FBI jet after he had been fired.

On May 10, Comey sent a letter to FBI staff in which he said, "I have long believed that a president can fire an FBI director for any reason, or for no reason at all. I'm not going to spend time on the decision or the way it was executed. I hope you won't either. It is done, and I will be fine, although I will miss you and the mission deeply." In the absence of a Senate-confirmed FBI director, McCabe automatically became Acting Director.

The White House initially stated the firing was on the recommendation of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, to both of whom Comey reported. Rosenstein had sent a memorandum to Sessions, forwarded to Trump, in which Rosenstein listed objections to Comey's conduct in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. It allowed the Trump administration to attribute Comey's firing to Rosenstein's recommendation about the Clinton email controversy. It was later revealed that on May 8, Trump had requested Sessions and Rosenstein to detail in writing a case against Comey. Rosenstein's memo was forwarded to Trump on May 9 and was then construed as a recommendation to dismiss Comey, which Trump immediately did. In Trump's termination letter to Comey, he attributed the firing to the respective letters from Sessions and Rosenstein. On May 10, Trump told reporters he had fired Comey because Comey "wasn't doing a good job". White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that the FBI rank and file had lost faith in Comey and that she had "heard from countless members of the FBI ... grateful and thankful for the president's decision."

By May 11, however, in a direct contradiction of the earlier statements by the White House, Vice President Mike Pence, and the contents of the dismissal letter itself, President Trump stated to Lester Holt in an NBC News interview that Comey's dismissal was in fact "my decision" and "I was going to fire [Comey] regardless of recommendation [by Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein]." Trump later said of the dismissal "when I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'" In the same televised interview, Trump labelled Comey "a showboat" and "grandstander".

Federal prosecutions of Comey (2025–2026)

Indictment relating to congressional proceedings

On September 25, 2025, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on two counts: one charge of making a false statement to Congress, and one charge of obstructing a congressional proceeding. The charges are related to Comey's testimony during a September 30, 2020, Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the FBI's investigation of links between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign, and he was indicted just before the five-year statute of limitations ran out.

The indictment followed President Trump's removal of US Attorney Erik Siebert, who had opposed bringing charges, and his installation of Lindsey Halligan, a political loyalist with no prosecutorial experience, who secured the indictment days before the statute of limitations expired. Comey's defense counsel team includes Patrick Fitzgerald and Michael Dreeben. Comey's defense argues the charges are baseless because Senator Ted Cruz's 2020 questions were ambiguous, Comey's answers were literally true, and the obstruction count fails to specify any false statements. They also allege grand-jury misconduct, including Halligan keeping jurors late, signing two indictments, and allowing improper testimony, framing the prosecution as vindictive and politically driven. His defense has suggested that given the failure of procedures with the grand jury, there is no indictment. Federal judges have sharply criticized the government's handling of the case, ordered the release of grand-jury materials, and are reviewing whether Halligan's appointment itself was lawful. Comey pleaded not guilty, and sought to have the cases to be dismissed with prejudice. The case was dismissed without prejudice on November 24 by judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who declared Halligan had been illegally appointed.

Seashell photo indictment

On April 28, 2026, Comey was again indicted by the Department of Justice, on two counts: "knowingly and willfully making a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm on the President of the United States", and "knowingly and willfully transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to kill the President of the United States". The charges stemmed from a photo Comey had posted on Instagram in May 2025 which depicted seashells on sand spelling the numbers "8647". The post was captioned: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk". At the time, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had said that federal agencies were investigating the post as a threat.

In the service industry, to "86" something means to eject, cancel, or get rid of, and Donald Trump is the 47th President of the United States. However, it was previously noted in May 2025 that the Merriam-Webster dictionary has described the most common meaning of 86 with regards to roots in the service industry is actually to "throw out" or "refuse service to".

Comey self-surrendered to the court on April 29, 2026. At his arraignment, he did not enter a plea, and was released on his own recognizance. On July 28, his attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that it was selective and vindictive. In their filings, they also alleged that the Secret Service had warrantlessly surveilled Comey after the post under the legal justification of exigent circumstances, based on a possible threat to President Trump posed by Comey. Former prosecutor John Gleeson filed a declaration in support of Comey; in the declaration, Gleeson said he was unaware of any instance of 86 being used by organized criminals to mean kill.

Writings

Macmillan Publishers' Flatiron Books announced in August 2017 that it had acquired the rights to Comey's first book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, in which he discusses ethics, leadership, and his experience in government. Several publishers had submitted bids in an auction conducted by literary agency Javelin. The release date was moved up from May 1, 2018, to April 17, 2018, due to scrutiny faced by the FBI during the Special Counsel investigation.

A month before Comey's book was released, presale orders made it the top seller on Amazon. The boom was attributed to a series of Twitter attacks on Comey by Trump, in which Trump claimed that Comey "knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!" In response, Comey tweeted, "Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not." Comey's autobiography was well-received, with The New York Times calling it "very persuasive" and describing the book as "absorbing" in its book review.

Additionally, Comey has written the foreword for a biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt entitled A Christian and a Democrat: A Religious Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Comey has authored a second book, Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust, which was also published by Macmillan Publishers' Flatiron Books.

In 2017, a pseudonymous Twitter account called @projectexile7 (later changed to @formerbu), which uses "Reinhold Niebuhr" as its display name, was speculated to be operated by Comey, and he subsequently confirmed it to be his.

In 2023, Comey's first novel, a legal thriller entitled Central Park West, was published by Mysterious Press. He told The Washington Post that he was working on more novels, saying "I want this to be my job". In 2024, he published his second novel, Westport. In 2025, he published his third novel, FDR Drive.

Post-government life

In the summer of 2017, Comey gave the convocation speech and a series of lectures at Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C., In the fall of 2018, Comey returned to his alma mater, the College of William & Mary, to teach a course on ethical leadership. He became an executive professor in education, a non-tenured position at the College. Comey joined assistant professor Drew Stelljes to teach the course during the 2018–2019 academic year.

In February 2019, in the midst of controversy surrounding a blackface picture in new Virginia governor Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook, and a national debate about the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials, Comey published an op-ed in The Washington Post, suggesting that Virginia should get rid of the Confederate statues in Richmond: "Expressing bipartisan horror at blackface photos is essential, but removing the statues would show all of America that Virginia really has changed."

In a May 2019 op-ed published in The New York Times, as Attorney General William Barr was scheduled to be questioned in congressional hearings, Comey wrote: "Accomplished people lacking inner strength can't resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis's to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites." He concluded with, "Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul."

In 2020, Comey's tenure as the FBI director was depicted in the Showtime TV mini-series The Comey Rule; he was portrayed by Jeff Daniels.

Comey is a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, an American non-partisan research foundation.

Party affiliation

Comey was a registered Republican for most of his life. He donated to Senator John McCain's campaign in the 2008 presidential election and to Governor Mitt Romney's campaign in the 2012 presidential election. He disclosed during congressional testimony in July 2016 that he was no longer registered with any party. In an interview with ABC News in April 2018, Comey said that the Republican Party "left me and many others", and that "these people don't represent anything I believe in". In July 2018, Comey urged voters to vote for Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections through Twitter. He wrote, "This Republican Congress has proven incapable of fulfilling the Founders' design that 'Ambition must ... counteract ambition.' All who believe in this country's values must vote for Democrats this fall. Policy differences don't matter right now. History has its eyes on us." He donated to the campaign of Virginia Democratic candidate Jennifer Wexton in the 2018 elections and canvassed for Wexton.

He donated to Senator Amy Klobuchar's campaign in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries; following the suspension of her campaign, he then endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. Comey supported Kamala Harris's run for president in 2024.

Personal life

Comey is of Irish descent and was raised in a Roman Catholic household but now belongs to the United Methodist Church, where he has taught Sunday school. He is 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) tall.

Comey met his wife, Patrice Failor, when they were both students at the College of William and Mary. They married in 1987 and are the parents of five children, and a son who died in infancy. He has said that he learned to make something good happen after a tragedy. They have also been foster parents. As of 2023, Comey and his wife reside in McLean, Virginia.

Their oldest daughter, Maurene, graduated from Harvard Law School in 2013 and was an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

In his book Donald Trump v. The United States, Michael S. Schmidt revealed that Comey was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2006. Comey had a malignant tumor removed from his colon in 2006.