Firing of FBI Director James Comey During Active Russia Investigation (May 2017)
Tier 3Investigated, Not Prosecuted2017-05-09 to 2017-05-11
Factual Summary
On May 9, 2017, President Donald J. Trump terminated FBI Director James B. Comey by delivering a dismissal letter to FBI headquarters while Comey was in Los Angeles. Comey learned he had been fired from television news. At the time of the firing, the FBI was conducting an active counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and potential ties between Russia and members of the Trump campaign.
### The Stated Reason
The White House's initial public explanation was that Trump acted on the written recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. Rosenstein's May 9, 2017 memorandum criticized Comey's handling of the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server. Specifically, the memo argued that Comey exceeded his authority in July 2016 by publicly announcing the FBI's recommendation not to charge Clinton, and again in October 2016 by publicly disclosing that the investigation had been reopened. The memo argued that Comey's conduct damaged the FBI's credibility and undermined the Justice Department's institutional norms. Vice President Mike Pence and other senior White House officials repeated this justification publicly in the days following the firing.
Trump's termination letter to Comey repeated the stated rationale and also included an unsolicited assertion that Comey had told Trump on three separate occasions that Trump himself was not under investigation.
### Trump's Own Contradictions
Within 48 hours, Trump's stated rationale collapsed under the weight of his own statements. During an Oval Office meeting on May 10, 2017, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, Trump told the two officials that firing Comey had removed pressure from him. A document summarizing the meeting, later reported by The New York Times, quoted Trump as saying: "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off." The meeting itself was closed to American press but photographed by a Russian state media photographer whose images were made public by TASS.
On May 11, 2017, Trump told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in a televised interview that he had decided independently to fire Comey regardless of Rosenstein's recommendation. Trump stated: "And in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'" Trump also confirmed in the same interview that he had discussed the Russia investigation with Comey directly on multiple occasions.
Trump further undermined the Rosenstein rationale by disclosing that on May 8, 2017, the day before the firing, he had shown Sessions and Rosenstein a draft termination letter he and advisor Stephen Miller had already written. Trump then asked Rosenstein to write his memorandum, meaning the memo recommended an action the president had already decided to take.
### Acting FBI Director's Testimony
Andrew McCabe, who became acting FBI director after Comey's dismissal, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on May 11, 2017. McCabe directly contradicted the White House's secondary justification that rank-and-file FBI agents had lost confidence in Comey. McCabe stated that Comey "enjoyed broad support within the FBI" and that the claim was "not accurate."
### The Mueller Report's Treatment of the Firing
The firing of Comey is Episode 1 of Volume II of the Mueller Report, which examined it as a potential instance of obstruction of justice. Mueller's analysis found that the firing of Comey was connected to the FBI's ongoing investigation, that Trump had expressed frustration with Comey for failing to publicly clear Trump despite repeated requests, and that Trump's own statements provided evidence of corrupt intent. The report did not reach a traditional prosecutorial charging decision because of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting president. The report stated: "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
### Timeline
- May 8, 2017: Trump shows Sessions and Rosenstein a draft termination letter already written by Trump and Stephen Miller, then directs Rosenstein to write a recommendation memo.
- May 9, 2017: Rosenstein delivers his memorandum. Trump's dismissal letter is delivered to FBI headquarters. Comey learns of his firing via television news.
- May 10, 2017: Trump meets in the Oval Office with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak. Trump tells the Russian officials the firing removed pressure related to Russia. Russian state media photographs are released publicly; American press had been excluded.
- May 11, 2017: Trump tells Lester Holt on NBC that he planned to fire Comey regardless of Rosenstein's recommendation and that he was thinking about "this Russia thing." Acting FBI Director McCabe testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee and disputes the claim that agents had lost confidence in Comey.
- May 17, 2017: Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein appoints Robert S. Mueller III as Special Counsel, citing the need for a credible independent investigation following the dismissal of the FBI director.
Primary Sources
1. Trump termination letter to James Comey, May 9, 2017 (full text via CNN): https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/09/politics/fbi-james-comey-fired-letter/index.html
2. Rosenstein memorandum to Attorney General Sessions recommending Comey's removal, May 9, 2017 (via Just Security analysis with full memo text): https://www.justsecurity.org/63712/a-brief-aside-on-the-inexplicable-may-2017-rosenstein-memo-about-comey/
3. Trump interview with Lester Holt, NBC News, May 11, 2017 (video and transcript): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-reveals-he-asked-comey-whether-he-was-under-investigation-n757821
4. Mueller Report, Volume II: Report on Obstruction of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, April 2019 (official PDF): https://www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume2.pdf
Corroborating Sources
1. The New York Times reporting on the document summarizing Trump's Oval Office statements to Lavrov and Kislyak about Comey: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/us/politics/trump-russia-comey.html
2. Washington Post reporting on Trump telling Russian officials he fired Comey to relieve pressure: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-revealed-highly-classified-information-to-russian-foreign-minister-and-ambassador/2017/05/15/530c172a-3960-11e7-9e48-c4f199710b69_story.html
3. FactCheck.org, "Why Did Trump Fire Comey?", May 2017: https://www.factcheck.org/2017/05/trump-fire-comey/
4. PolitiFact fact-check of Trump's NBC interview claims about the Comey firing, May 12, 2017: https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/may/12/fact-checking-donald-trumps-nbc-interview-claims-a/
5. Ballotpedia, "Donald Trump firing of FBI Director James Comey, 2017-2018" (comprehensive timeline): https://ballotpedia.org/Donald_Trump_firing_of_FBI_Director_James_Comey
6. Wikipedia, "Dismissal of James Comey" (comprehensive overview with sourcing): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_James_Comey
Counterarguments and Context
Several arguments were advanced in defense of the firing's legitimacy. Rosenstein's memorandum did reflect genuine criticisms of Comey that were not invented for the occasion. Prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and members of the House Democratic leadership, had themselves criticized Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation in the months before the firing, particularly his October 2016 letter to Congress. This bipartisan pre-existing criticism lent some surface credibility to the stated rationale.
Trump's defenders also argued that the president has broad constitutional authority to remove the FBI director and that the exercise of that authority, even if politically motivated, does not constitute obstruction of justice. This argument rests on the unitary executive theory, which holds that the president has plenary control over executive branch personnel. Trump's legal team subsequently advanced this argument to Mueller's investigators.
Some legal analysts noted that the Comey firing, standing alone, was legally ambiguous, because the president does have the authority to terminate the FBI director. The obstruction question, under this view, turns entirely on whether there was corrupt intent, which is a factual rather than a legal question. Mueller's report acknowledged this complexity and applied a three-part framework to assess it.
Additionally, Trump's statement to Holt that "this Russia thing" was on his mind was followed by Trump characterizing the investigation as "a made-up story," which his supporters argued showed he was firing Comey out of frustration with what he believed was a false investigation rather than out of a desire to obstruct a legitimate one. Mueller's report addressed the question of whether a president who subjectively believes an investigation is illegitimate can still obstruct it and found that the corrupt-intent standard does not exempt conduct based on the actor's personal belief in the investigation's validity.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the core facts rest on primary documentation: Trump's own termination letter, Rosenstein's memorandum, Trump's on-camera statements to Lester Holt, a government-produced document summarizing Trump's statements to the Russian officials, McCabe's sworn Senate testimony, and Mueller Report Volume II. The principal factual question about intent is not resolved by inference or accusation but by Trump's own statements made in a recorded interview and in a meeting with foreign officials. No court adjudicated these events as to Trump. Mueller's decision not to reach a charging conclusion was procedurally constrained by DOJ policy, not a factual finding of innocence.