--- title: James Comey: Read Testimony's Opening Statement description: Former FBI Director James Comey will testify before Congress Thursday morning to describe his interactions with President Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-07T18:38:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:18:49.738Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read James Comey's Opening Statement Describing Interactions With Trump og:description: Comey says Trump told him: "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" og:url: https://time.com/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e75738c1afc1db/6988d0aae76ad241ae62dcc0/james-comey-testimony-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Hosts The Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers And First Responders Reception At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read James Comey's Opening Statement Describing Interactions With Trump twitter:description: Comey says Trump told him: "I need loyalty, I expect loyalty" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e75738c1afc1db/6988d0aae76ad241ae62dcc0/james-comey-testimony-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read James Comey's Opening Statement Describing His Awkward Interactions With President Trump by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jun 7, 2017 6:38 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 22: U.S. President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 22: U.S. President Donald Trump (C) shakes hands with James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during an Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Jun 7, 2017 6:38 PM UTC Former FBI Director [James Comey will testify before Congress](http://time.com/4809221/james-comey-testimony-donald-trump-loyalty/) Thursday morning to describe his interactions with President Donald Trump before [Comey was abruptly fired](http://time.com/4773873/james-comey-fired-whats-next/). Ahead of his testimony, Comey prepared a statement for the record that he will read to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence headed by North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr. The document was posted to the Committee’s website on Wednesday. Comey’s opening statement details several private encounters with Trump since he became President-elect up until Comey’s final conversation with him on April 11 — approximately a month before Comey was dismissed — and corroborates a number of recent reports, including accounts that Trump asked Comey to pledge his loyalty and drop the investigation into [former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn](http://time.com/4808063/michael-flynn-senate-committee-document-release/). “A few moments later, the President said, ‘I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.’ I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed,” Comey writes of his January 27 dinner with Trump. “We simply looked at each other in silence.” You can read Comey’s entire statement below: [James Comey’s Opening Statement](https://www.scribd.com/document/350651927/James-Comey-s-Opening-Statement#from%5Fembed) by [Mathew Katz](https://www.scribd.com/user/290502639/Mathew-Katz#from%5Fembed) on Scribd James Comey: Read Testimony's Opening Statement ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/"},"headline":"Read James Comey's Opening Statement Describing His Awkward Interactions With President Trump","datePublished":"2017-06-07T18:38:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:18:49.738Z","description":"Comey says Trump told him: \"I need loyalty, I expect loyalty\"","url":"https://time.com/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/","keywords":["James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e75738c1afc1db/6988d0aae76ad241ae62dcc0/james-comey-testimony-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3e75738c1afc1db/6988d0aae76ad241ae62dcc0/james-comey-testimony-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Hosts The Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers And First Responders Reception At The White House","caption":"President Trump Hosts The Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers And First Responders Reception At The White House","creditText":"Pool—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/4809570/james-comey-donald-trump-senate-intelligence-committee/","name":"Read James Comey's Opening Statement Describing His Awkward Interactions With President Trump"}}]}] ```