--- title: James Comey Fired: Read Justice Department Recommendation description: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails in recommending James Comey be fired canonical: https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-09T22:40:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:47.687Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Memo Recommending James Comey Be Fired Over the Clinton Investigation og:description: "I cannot defend the Director's handling of...the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails" og:url: https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Memo Recommending James Comey Be Fired Over the Clinton Investigation twitter:description: "I cannot defend the Director's handling of...the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Read the Memo Recommending James Comey Be Fired Over the Hillary Clinton Email Investigation ## 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. "I cannot defend the Director's handling of...the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails"_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 9, 2017 10:40 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 9, 2017 10:40 PM UTC Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails in his recommendation that FBI Director [James Comey](http://time.com/4773153/fbi-james-comey-huma-abedin-hillary-clinton-emails-senate-congress/) be [fired](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/?xid=homepage). “I cannot defend the Director’s handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton’s emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken,” Rosenstein wrote in a memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, which was released by the White House on Tuesday. “Almost everyone agrees that the Director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives.” The White House announced Tuesday that Comey had been [removed from office](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/?xid=homepage) based on recommendations from top Justice Department officials. Comey was leading an investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in in the 2016 presidential election. “The way the Director handled the conclusion of the email investigation was wrong,” Rosenstein wrote in his memo. “As a result, the FBI is unlikely to regain public and congressional trust until it has a Director who understands the gravity of the mistakes and pledges never to repeat them. Having refused to admit his errors, the Director cannot be expected to implement the necessary corrective actions.” You can read the full memo 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 James Comey Fired: Read Justice Department Recommendation ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/"},"headline":"Read the Memo Recommending James Comey Be Fired Over the Hillary Clinton Email Investigation","datePublished":"2017-05-09T22:40:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:47.687Z","description":"\"I cannot defend the Director's handling of...the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails\"","url":"https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/","keywords":["FBI","White House","justice","Donald Trump","James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"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/fbi/","name":"FBI"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/","name":"Read the Memo Recommending James Comey Be Fired Over the Hillary Clinton Email Investigation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"\"I cannot defend the Director's handling of...the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails\"","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/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```