--- title: James Comey Fired: Read President Trump's Dismissal Letter description: President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday evening, dismissing the former bureau chief in a letter addressed him directly canonical: https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-09T22:16:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:47.804Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Trump's Letter Firing James Comey og:description: "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI" og:url: https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec230eca84909e3/6988bf2bbc6cfc83133e094c/gettyimages-6556765061.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Congress Holds Hearing on Russian Election Interference and Connections to Trump Campaign og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Trump's Letter Firing James Comey twitter:description: "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec230eca84909e3/6988bf2bbc6cfc83133e094c/gettyimages-6556765061.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Trump's Letter Firing James Comey ## Video: This Video Is No Longer Available [Watch (HLS stream): This Video Is No Longer Available](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8) (0:10)  _Published 2026-06-23. "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI"_ by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 9, 2017 10:16 PM UTC by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 9, 2017 10:16 PM UTC President Donald Trump [fired FBI Director James Comey](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/) Tuesday evening, dismissing the former bureau chief in a letter addressing him directly. “I have received the attached letters from the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the President wrote to Comey. “I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately. “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgement of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau,” Trump added. “It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission.” You can read Trump’s letter to Comey below: [White House Statement on James Comey](https://www.scribd.com/document/347867953/White-House-Statement-on-James-Comey#from%5Fembed) by [Katie Reilly](https://www.scribd.com/user/75333768/Katie-Reilly#from%5Fembed) on Scribd Comey’s firing came not long after the FBI told the Senate Judiciary committee that Comey had [misspoken during his testimony about Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin](http://time.com/4772480/huma-abedin-anthony-weiner-james-comey-hillary-clinton/) forwarding thousands of emails to her husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/"},"headline":"Read President Trump's Letter Firing James Comey","datePublished":"2017-05-09T22:16:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:47.804Z","description":"\"It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI\"","url":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec230eca84909e3/6988bf2bbc6cfc83133e094c/gettyimages-6556765061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ec230eca84909e3/6988bf2bbc6cfc83133e094c/gettyimages-6556765061.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Congress Holds Hearing on Russian Election Interference and Connections to Trump Campaign","caption":"Congress Holds Hearing on Russian Election Interference and Connections to Trump Campaign","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/","name":"Read President Trump's Letter Firing James Comey"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"\"It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```