--- title: James Comey Fired: Donald Trump Praised Comey Over Clinton description: Trump wasn't always so critical of Comey, particularly when it pertained to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server canonical: https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-09T23:59:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:47.657Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Praised James Comey Over the FBI's Clinton Investigation og:description: Trump wasn't always so critical of the former FBI director og:url: https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef039a73738e76b3/6988cbf8a988ca8f4f6bc144/james-comey-testify.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 170504_James Comey testify og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Praised James Comey Over the FBI's Clinton Investigation twitter:description: Trump wasn't always so critical of the former FBI director twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef039a73738e76b3/6988cbf8a988ca8f4f6bc144/james-comey-testify.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Previously Praised James Comey Over the FBI's Hillary Clinton 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. Trump wasn't always so critical of the former FBI Director_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 9, 2017 11:59 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 9, 2017 11:59 PM UTC [President Trump](http://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/) abruptly announced Tuesday evening that he was firing FBI Director [James Comey ](http://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/)over his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation — an investigation Trump repeatedly praised. “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 judgement that he was mistaken,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote in a memo the White House cited as a reason for firing Comey. After Comey announced he was re-opening Clinton’s email investigation on October 28, he was criticized by many for an announcement that could be viewed as an interference in the election. But Trump called his actions courageous, saying “it took guts.” “I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the[ Department of Justice](http://www.thedrive.com/tech/9993/justice-department-opens-criminal-probe-into-uber) are now willing to have the courage to right the horrible mistake that they made,” Trump said after Comey made his announcement. In January, shortly after he was inaugurated, Trump spotted Comey at a law enforcement reception and gave him a hug. “He’s more famous than me,” he joked. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/"},"headline":"President Trump Previously Praised James Comey Over the FBI's Hillary Clinton Investigation","datePublished":"2017-05-09T23:59:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:47.657Z","description":"Trump wasn't always so critical of the former FBI Director","url":"https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/","keywords":["James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef039a73738e76b3/6988cbf8a988ca8f4f6bc144/james-comey-testify.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef039a73738e76b3/6988cbf8a988ca8f4f6bc144/james-comey-testify.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170504_James Comey testify","caption":"FBI Director James Comey Testifies During Senate Judiciary Hearing","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via 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/james-comey/","name":"James Comey"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/","name":"President Trump Previously Praised James Comey Over the FBI's Hillary Clinton Investigation"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"Trump wasn't always so critical of the former FBI Director","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/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4773354/donald-trump-james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```