--- title: James Comey Firing: Read His Farewell Letter to Colleagues description: Former FBI Director James Comey sent a farewell letter to colleagues Wednesday, a day after his shock firing by President Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-11T02:02:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:01:57.761Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read James Comey's Farewell Letter to Colleagues og:description: "I will miss you and the mission deeply," the former FBI director wrote og:url: https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f7c2ac1353f184f/6988ccdd86f68e53a96e4a2e/gettyimages-547297624.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Administration Intelligence Officials Testify To House Homeland Security Committee On Worldwide Threats og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read James Comey's Farewell Letter to Colleagues twitter:description: "I will miss you and the mission deeply," the former FBI director wrote twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f7c2ac1353f184f/6988ccdd86f68e53a96e4a2e/gettyimages-547297624.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Former FBI Director James Comey's Farewell Letter to Colleagues > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ddbd6cdf-8a91-4787-aef7-c96cdab75d31&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day [Watch (HLS stream): White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ktG2xfo5.m3u8) (0:20)  _Published 2017-05-10. The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had been considering FBI Director James Comey's termination since the day he was elected, but wanted to give him a chance in the role first_ by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks May 11, 2017 2:02 AM UTC by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks May 11, 2017 2:02 AM UTC Former FBI Director James Comey sent a farewell letter to colleagues Wednesday, a day after his [shock firing](http://time.com/4774278/james-comey-fired-timeline/) by President Donald Trump. In the letter, [first published](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/comey-goodbye-letter/index.html?sr=fbCNN051017comey-goodbye-letter0821PMStory&sr=twcnni051117index.html?sr=fbCNN051017comey-goodbye-letter0821PMStory1231AMStoryLink&linkId=37457582) by CNN, Comey said he would “miss the mission deeply” and that it would be “very hard” to leave his committed colleagues at the bureau. “In times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence,” he wrote. Read[ Comey’s letter](https://twitter.com/cnni/status/862465157208969216) below. --- > “” --- \[[_CNN_](https://twitter.com/cnni/status/862465157208969216)\] ## Transcript I did speak directly to the president and heard directly from him, that he again had been considering letting director Comey go, pretty much since the day he took office. But that there was no request by him to have on review at the department of justice. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/"},"headline":"Read Former FBI Director James Comey's Farewell Letter to Colleagues","datePublished":"2017-05-11T02:02:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:01:57.761Z","description":"\"In times of turbulence, the American people should see the FBI as a rock of competence, honesty, and independence\"","url":"https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/","keywords":["James Comey","FBI","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f7c2ac1353f184f/6988ccdd86f68e53a96e4a2e/gettyimages-547297624.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/blt1f7c2ac1353f184f/6988ccdd86f68e53a96e4a2e/gettyimages-547297624.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Administration Intelligence Officials Testify To House Homeland Security Committee On Worldwide Threats","caption":"Administration Intelligence Officials Testify To House Homeland Security Committee On Worldwide Threats","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/","name":"Read Former FBI Director James Comey's Farewell Letter to Colleagues"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day","description":"The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had been considering FBI Director James Comey's termination since the day he was elected, but wanted to give him a chance in the role first","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ktG2xfo5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-10T20:18:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ktG2xfo5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/","duration":"PT20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4775221/james-comey-farewell-letter-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```