For almost a decade, President Donald Trump and James Comey’s working relationship has descended into deep turmoil: the president has accused the previous FBI director of being disloyal and mendacity; Comey has criticized Trump and stood by his tenure as the pinnacle of the FBI.
On Thursday, Comey was indicted on charges of creating a false assertion and obstruction associated to his testimony earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, simply days after Trump issued a public demand for his Justice Division to behave “now” to carry prosecutions in opposition to Comey and different political foes.
Nevertheless, the pair as soon as had a extra cordial relationship — together with in the course of the finish of the 2016 presidential marketing campaign between Trump and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump shakes arms with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), throughout an Inaugural Regulation Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception within the Blue Room of the White Home on January 22, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
Andrew Harrer/Pool/Getty Photos
Comey introduced in October 2016 — lower than two weeks earlier than the presidential election — that the FBI was going to analyze Clinton’s non-public e mail server, months after federal investigators stated it might not advocate prices. Trump praised the choice.
“I’ve respect that the FBI has given it a second probability,” Trump stated in 2016.
Nevertheless, the then-FBI director cleared Clinton two days earlier than the election. Trump informed reporters he was dissatisfied.
“Hillary Clinton is responsible. She is aware of it, the FBI is aware of it, the folks realize it,” he stated.
Mike Pence shakes arms with FBI Director James Comey in the course of the reception for regulation enforcement officers and first responders within the Blue Room of the White Home on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Photos
After Trump’s inauguration, he was seen embracing Comey on the White Home and singing his praises.
“He is grow to be extra well-known than me,” Trump informed reporters on Jan. 22, 2017.
That reward was short-lived.
On Jan. 27, 2017, Trump and Comey met over dinner, the place the then-director claimed that Trump sought his loyalty.
“The dinner was, at the least partially, an effort to have me ask for my job and create some form of patronage relationship. That involved me significantly, given the FBI’s historically unbiased standing within the govt department,” Comey, who stated he took notes instantly after the dinner, testified to Congress later that yr.
James Comey is sworn in throughout a listening to earlier than the Senate Choose Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Photos
In March, Comey publicly confirmed the FBI had been investigating suspected Russian interference in the course of the 2016 election and potential hyperlinks to the Trump marketing campaign.
Regardless that the director stated that Trump himself was not personally beneath investigation, the president chastised Comey and referred to as the Russia probe a “hoax.”
Trump slammed Comey typically on social media.
“FBI Director Comey was the perfect factor that ever occurred to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free go for a lot of dangerous deeds!” Trump posted on Twitter in Might 2017.
On Might 9, 2017, Trump fired Comey, contending, “he wasn’t doing an excellent job.”
Comey would testify earlier than Congress a month later and refute the president’s claims that the FBI was in disarray.
“These had been lies, plain and easy,” he stated.
President Donald Trump speaks within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, September 25, 2025 in Washington.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photos
Through the listening to, Comey additionally testified that Trump pressured him to drop federal investigations into adviser Michael Flynn.
A day after the bombshell listening to, Trump informed reporters that Comey was a “leaker and a liar” and accused him of mendacity to Congress, with no proof.
Comey saved a decrease profile after the listening to, however stirred extra ire from Trump in April 2018 when the previous director’s memoir “A Larger Loyalty: Fact, Lies and Management,” hit bookshelves. The e-book detailed Comey’s time in authorities, together with his dealings with Trump.
The president took to Twitter to assault Comey and his anecdotes within the e-book. At one level, Trump claimed with out proof that Comey “leaked CLASSIFIED data.”
Comey told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos days earlier than the e-book was printed that Trump was “morally unfit to be president,” citing the president’s response to an enormous white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, throughout which a girl was killed when a automotive rammed right into a crowd of counter-protesters. Trump condemned the violence on the rally, however blamed “both sides.” He added that there have been “very effective folks” amongst each the white supremacists and the counter-protesters.
“An individual who sees ethical equivalence in Charlottesville, who talks about and treats ladies like they’re items of meat, who lies always about issues huge and small and insists the American folks imagine it; that individual’s not match to be president of the USA, on ethical grounds,” he stated.
On Aug. 29, 2019, the Justice Division’s watchdog stated they discovered Comey violated FBI insurance policies in leaking memos to the media, however it decided he should not be charged.
Trump tweeted that Comey “needs to be ashamed of himself,” however the former FBI director clapped again on Twitter.
“DOJ IG ‘discovered no proof that Comey or his attorneys launched any of the categorised data contained in any of the memos to members of the media.’ I do not want a public apology from those that defamed me, however a fast message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ could be good,” he posted.
Former FBI Director James Comey testifies earlier than the Senate Choose Committee on Intelligence listening to on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photos
Comey went on to endorse Joe Biden within the 2020 election. That yr, he testified earlier than the Senate once more throughout a listening to in regards to the Russia investigation and stood by his 2017 testimony, the place he maintained he didn’t leak data to the press.
The 2020 testimony is now the middle of the federal indictment in opposition to Comey.
Trump would proceed to berate Comey throughout information conferences and interviews — persevering with after he returned to workplace in 2025.
Comey came under fire from Trump in Might after the previous FBI director posted a picture on his Instagram web page of shells on a seaside organized to spell out “86 47.” Some, together with the president’s allies, took the picture to check with “86ing” or threatening somebody, however Comey maintained it was an trustworthy mistake.
“It by no means occurred to me however I oppose violence of any sort,” Comey stated in one other submit on Instagram.
Trump informed Fox Information that he did not purchase Comey’s rationalization.
“He knew precisely what that meant. A toddler is aware of what that meant. In the event you’re the FBI director and you do not know what that meant, that meant assassination,” the president stated.
