--- title: James Comey Fired: John McCain 'Disappointed' With Decision description: The senator said he was disappointed in Trump's decision to fire Comey, although he acknowledged he had the legal jurisdiction to do so canonical: https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T00:20:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:47.454Z article:section: Politics og:title: John McCain Is 'Disappointed' That President Trump Fired James Comey og:description: "James Comey is a man of honor" og:url: https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02c3b806704d6d11/6988b7252dce01a48c9ec07a/john-mccain-enhanced-interrogation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Armed Forces Committee Holds Holds Hearing On Foreign Cyber Threats To U.S. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John McCain Is 'Disappointed' That President Trump Fired James Comey twitter:description: "James Comey is a man of honor" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02c3b806704d6d11/6988b7252dce01a48c9ec07a/john-mccain-enhanced-interrogation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John McCain Is 'Disappointed' That President Trump Fired 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. "James Comey is a man of honor"_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 10, 2017 12:20 AM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 10, 2017 12:20 AM UTC [Senator John McCain](http://time.com/4759126/john-mccain-north-korea-strike-option/) said Tuesday evening he was “disappointed” in President Trump’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, although he acknowledged Trump has the legal jurisdiction to do so. “While the President has the legal authority to remove the Director of the FBI, I am disappointed in the President’s decision to remove [James Comey ](http://time.com/4773321/james-comey-fired-hillary-clinton-robby-mook-john-podesta/)from office,” McCain said. “James Comey is a man of honor and has led the FBI well in extraordinary circumstances.” McCain has repeatedly advocated for an independent investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which the FBI is currently heading. After [Rep. Devin Nunes](http://time.com/4715399/devin-nunes-russia-investigation-house-intelligence-committee/) revealed that he had information that Trump associates were the subjects of incidental surveillance, McCain said Congress was incapable of handling the matter credibly. In March, he insinuated that he expected more information to drop about the relationship between Trump and Russia. “I think there’s a lot of shoes to drop from this centipede,” [he said](http://time.com/4699123/trump-russia-john-mccain/?iid=sr-link6) at the time. “There’s a lot of aspects with this whole relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin that requires further scrutiny, and so far I don’t think the American people have gotten all the answers,” Trump’s decision to fire Comey, the Senator said Tuesday night only”confirms the need and urgency” of an independent committee. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/"},"headline":"John McCain Is 'Disappointed' That President Trump Fired James Comey","datePublished":"2017-05-10T00:20:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:47.454Z","description":"\"James Comey is a man of honor\"","url":"https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/","keywords":["James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt02c3b806704d6d11/6988b7252dce01a48c9ec07a/john-mccain-enhanced-interrogation.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/blt02c3b806704d6d11/6988b7252dce01a48c9ec07a/john-mccain-enhanced-interrogation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Armed Forces Committee Holds Holds Hearing On Foreign Cyber Threats To U.S.","caption":"Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, arrives to a hearing on foreign cyber threats to the United States with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, left, in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg /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/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/","name":"John McCain Is 'Disappointed' That President Trump Fired James Comey"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"\"James Comey is a man of honor\"","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/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4773385/john-mccain-james-comey-fired-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```