Former FBI Director James Comey stands by the way he handled himself during the 2016 presidential election.
In a wide-ranging interview with NPR, Comey said that he was put in a "no-win situation," but that he believes he made the right decision when it came to publicly disclosing an FBI investigation into then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
Comey headed up the bureau when it opened an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. He made two unprecedented public announcements about the probe: In July 2016, Comey announced that the FBI recommended no criminal charges against Clinton; in October 2016, he disclosed that the FBI had discovered a new set of emails and would reopen the case.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Comey told NPR that he believed he should announce the discovery in order to protect the public's trust in the FBI, but his decision was widely criticized as it defied standard procedure for the FBI. Still, Comey said that he hasn't lost any sleep over his choice to "show transparency to the American people." His regrets include making "thoughtless" statements about the Holocaust in a speech that angered Poland, as well as sounding off on an Apple advertisement that "bugged" him, he said — but not his conduct as FBI chief.
"Once I make a decision — and I always tried to [do so] in a thoughtful way — I'm okay," Comey said. "I'm sleeping well."
The one time he truly felt uneasy? "I woke up in the middle of the night after Donald Trump tweeted at me about tapes," said Comey. Read the full interview at NPR.
-
5 thin-skinned cartoons about shooting the messengerCartoons Artists take on unfavorable weather, a look in the mirror, and more
-
Is Trump's new peacemaking model working in DR Congo?Talking Point Truce brokered by the US president in June is holding, but foundations of a long-term peace have let to be laid
-
Crossword: August 10, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
-
India rejects Trump threat over Russian oilSpeed Read The president said he would raise tariffs on India for buying and selling Russian oil
-
NY's Hochul vows response to Texas gerrymanderSpeed Read Gov. Kathy Hochul has promised to play ball with redistricting that favors the Democrats
-
Texas Democrats exit state to block redistricting voteSpeed Read More than 51 legislators fled the state in protest of the GOP's plan to redraw congressional districts
