--- title: James Comey Fired: Edward Snowden Speaks Out Against Move description: Edward Snowden has come out in support of FBI Director James Comey following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to fire him. canonical: https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T02:17:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-24T06:56:46.370Z article:section: Politics og:title: Even Edward Snowden Thinks Firing James Comey Was a Bad Idea og:description: "Every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau's work" og:url: https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab7bccc88b950bf/6988ccab97cdff5b2a6b0a04/gettyimages-656109816.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5359 og:image:height: 3014 og:image:alt: CeBIT 2017 Technology Trade Fair og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Even Edward Snowden Thinks Firing James Comey Was a Bad Idea twitter:description: "Every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau's work" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab7bccc88b950bf/6988ccab97cdff5b2a6b0a04/gettyimages-656109816.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Even Edward Snowden Thinks Firing James Comey Was a Bad Idea ## 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. "Every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau's work"_ by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks May 10, 2017 2:17 AM UTC by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks May 10, 2017 2:17 AM UTC Edward Snowden has slammed the decision by President Donald Trump [to fire FBI Director ](http://time.com/4773423/james-comey-fired-donald-trump-fbi-backfire/?xid=homepage)James Comey Tuesday. “This FBI Director has sought to jail me on account of my political activities,” Snowden [tweeted](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/862069019301601281). “If I can oppose his firing so can you.” In an earlier tweet, Snowden [wrote that](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/862067649748119553) “every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau’s work.” Snowden, the former CIA employee who exposed global surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency and others, has previously railed against Trump’s approach to intelligence gathering. In March, the whistleblower — who was granted asylum in Russia and is currently living in Moscow — rubbished accusations that former President Obama had “tapped” Trump Tower. “If Donald Trump or anyone else wants us to take this seriously, they have to show evidence,” Snowden [told](https://theintercept.com/2017/03/14/edward-snowden-has-some-advice-for-donald-trump-about-surveillance/) _The Intercept_. “And the fact that they have not despite the severity of this allegation means that they’re trying to make political hay — I suspect — out of something that affects all of us, which is that mass surveillance is making all of us vulnerable.” Trump, in turn, has in the past [threatened to execute Snowden](http://time.com/4567722/edward-snowden-donald-trump/). “I think he’s a terrible traitor, and you know what we used to do in the good old days when we were a strong country? You know what we used to do to traitors, right?,” he said, [during an appearance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4DjrBC4K-Q) on _Fox and Friends_ in 2013. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/"},"headline":"Even Edward Snowden Thinks Firing James Comey Was a Bad Idea","datePublished":"2017-05-10T02:17:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:46.370Z","description":"\"Every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau's work\"","url":"https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/","keywords":["White House","Edward Snowden","James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab7bccc88b950bf/6988ccab97cdff5b2a6b0a04/gettyimages-656109816.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ab7bccc88b950bf/6988ccab97cdff5b2a6b0a04/gettyimages-656109816.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CeBIT 2017 Technology Trade Fair","caption":"CeBIT 2017 Technology Trade Fair","creditText":"Alexander Koerner—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/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/","name":"Even Edward Snowden Thinks Firing James Comey Was a Bad Idea"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"\"Every American should condemn such political interference in the Bureau's work\"","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/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4773422/edward-snowden-james-comey-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```