--- title: Donald Trump and James Comey: Who Americans Believe description: Americans are much more likely to believe former FBI Director James Comey over President Donald Trump in accounts of Comey's firing canonical: https://time.com/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-23T18:06:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:17:59.496Z article:section: Politics og:title: In Trump vs. Comey, Here’s Who Americans Actually Believe og:description: About 21 percent said they don't believe either of them og:url: https://time.com/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dd48c5ecb08f84e/6988d0b2fb4eacd2a189257f/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: In Trump vs. Comey, Here’s Who Americans Actually Believe twitter:description: About 21 percent said they don't believe either of them twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dd48c5ecb08f84e/6988d0b2fb4eacd2a189257f/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # In Trump vs. Comey, Here’s Who Americans Actually Believe  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 23, 2017 6:06 PM UTC  President Trump shakes hands with former FBI Director James Comey at a White House reception President Trump shakes hands with former FBI Director James Comey at a White House receptionAndrew Harrer—Avalon/Zuma Press  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jun 23, 2017 6:06 PM UTC Americans are much more likely to believe former FBI Director James Comey over President Donald Trump in accounts of Comey’s firing, according to a new poll. The latest [NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/poll-more-americans-believe-comey-over-trump-n776006) found that Americans believe Comey by a 2-to-1 margin: 45 percent of respondents trusted Comey’s version of events in his June 8 sworn [testimony](http://time.com/4811175/comey-testimony-donald-trump-highlights/?iid=sr-link3), versus 22 percent who believed [Trump’s accounts](http://time.com/4829936/donald-trump-james-comey-tapes-bluff/?xid=homepage). About 21 percent said they don’t believe either of them. The numbers break down by political party with more Democrats believing Comey and more Republicans believing Trump. But Independents also believe Comey, 47 percent to 17 percent. Trump fired Comey in May and has offered shifting explanations for the ouster, including suggesting it had to do with the FBI’s investigation into Trump campaign associates’ dealings with Russia. During his testimony, Comey said Trump had asked him for “loyalty” in his position as the head of the FBI. The poll questioned 900 adults from June 17-20 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/"},"headline":"In Trump vs. Comey, Here’s Who Americans Actually Believe","datePublished":"2017-06-23T18:06:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:17:59.496Z","description":"Americans are much more likely to believe former FBI Director James Comey over President Donald Trump in accounts of Comey's firing, according to a new poll","url":"https://time.com/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/","keywords":["White House","FBI","James Comey","onetime","president trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dd48c5ecb08f84e/6988d0b2fb4eacd2a189257f/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dd48c5ecb08f84e/6988d0b2fb4eacd2a189257f/donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation","caption":"donald-trump-loyalty-pledge-fbi-challenges-nation","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Avalon/Zuma Press","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/4830806/president-trump-james-comey-trust-poll/","name":"In Trump vs. Comey, Here’s Who Americans Actually Believe"}}]}] ```