--- title: Donald Trump: Comey 'Exonerated' Hillary Clinton Too Soon description: Donald Trump claimed former FBI Director James Comey "exonerated" Hillary Clinton before finishing his investigation into her email server canonical: https://time.com/4924976/trump-james-comey-clinton-congress-investigation/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-01T15:27:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:08.467Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump: Comey Exonerated Hillary Clinton Too Soon og:description: "A rigged system!" og:url: https://time.com/4924976/trump-james-comey-clinton-congress-investigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0870837e908c84be/6988d464ab6d771e766aed3c/gettyimages-694398560.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3300 og:image:height: 1856 og:image:alt: fbi-james-comey-shirts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump: Comey Exonerated Hillary Clinton Too Soon twitter:description: "A rigged system!" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0870837e908c84be/6988d464ab6d771e766aed3c/gettyimages-694398560.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump: Comey Exonerated Hillary Clinton 'Long Before' Investigation Was Over > 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=c0e8fd71-f0d6-46cc-8281-cdfe8ff1ad30&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Here Are All the Things James Comey Said He Couldn’t Talk About [Watch (HLS stream): Here Are All the Things James Comey Said He Couldn’t Talk About](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/c3QDjaBF.m3u8) (4:19)  _Published 2017-06-08. It was the most anticipated hearing in years. It didn't disappoint. Here are all the things James Comey said he couldn't talk about._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 1, 2017 3:27 PM UTC  Former FBI Director, James Comey appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Office Building on Thursday June 08, 2017 in Washington, DC. Former FBI Director, James Comey appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Office Building on Thursday June 08, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photograph by Matt McClain—Getty/The Washington Post  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 1, 2017 3:27 PM UTC President Trump claimed Friday that former FBI Director James Comey “exonerated” Hillary Clinton before finishing his investigation into her email server, one day after senior members of Congress came to that conclusion. “Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over…and so much more,” the president tweeted. “A rigged system!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/903587428488839170) His statement came after Republican senators Chuck Grassley from Iowa and Lindsey Graham from South Carolina sent a letter to current FBI chief Christopher Wray asking for additional materials on Comey, after they determined he began drafting a statement clearing Clinton before his investigation had concluded. “According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton,” the senators, both members of the Judiciary Committee, wrote. (Grassley is chairman of the committee.) “That was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts… Conclusion first, fact-gathering second—that’s no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy.” In July 2016, in the height of the presidential campaign, Comey [publicly recommended](http://time.com/4393372/james-comey-fbi-hillary-clinton-email-speech-transcript/) that no charges be brought against Clinton for her use of a private email server and account [while she served as Secretary of State](http://time.com/4392196/hillary-clinton-fbi-email-investigation-interview/). Trump then [fired Comey](http://time.com/4775430/the-comey-misfire/) as FBI director in May 2017. ## Transcript [00:00] Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, [00:03] and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Please be [00:06] seated. At the time of your departure from the FBI, [00:11] was the FBI able to confirm any criminal allegations [00:15] contained in the sealed document? Mr. Chairman, I [00:18] don't think that's a question I can answer in an open [00:21] setting. And when you read the dossier, what [00:25] was your reaction, given that it was 100 % directed at [00:29] the President Elect? Not a question I can answer in an [00:32] open setting, Mr. Chairman. What was it about the [00:35] Attorney General's own interactions with the Russians [00:39] Or his behavior with regard to the investigation that [00:43] would have led the entire leadership of the FBI to make [00:47] this decision? Our judgement, as I recall, was that [00:52] he was very close to, and inevitably going to, recuse [00:56] himself. For a variety of reasons we [01:00] also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open [01:03] setting that would make his continued engagement in a [01:06] Russia related investigation problematic. How would [01:09] you characterize Attorney General Sessions adherence [01:13] to his recusal? In particular with regard to his [01:17] involvement In your firing, which the President has [01:21] acknowledged was because of the Russian [01:24] investigation? That's a question I can't answer. I think [01:28] it's a reasonable question. Do you find it odd that the [01:31] President seemed unconcerned by Russia's actions in [01:36] our election? I can't answer that cuz [01:40] I don't know what other conversations you had with [01:42] other advisors or other intelligence community leaders. [01:45] So I just don't know sitting here. What would be the [01:47] risks particularly for a transition someone not actually [01:52] in the office of the president yet. To setting up [01:54] unauthorized channels with a hostile foreign [01:57] government. Especially if they were to evade our own [02:00] American intelligence services. I'm not gonna [02:05] comment on whether that happened in an open [02:06] setting. The primary risk is obvious. You spare the [02:10] Russians the cost and effort of having to break into our [02:13] communications channels by using theirs. And is it not [02:16] true that Mr. Flynn was and is a central figure in this [02:20] entire investigation of the relationship between the [02:23] Trump campaign and the Russians? I can't answer that [02:26] in an open setting, sir. And certainly [02:31] Mr. Flynn was part of the so- called Russian [02:33] investigation. Can you answer that question? I have to [02:35] give you the same answer. What do you know about [02:37] the Russian bank, VEB? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [02:42] Nothing that I can talk about in an open setting. Do you [02:45] believe Donald Trump colluded with Russia? That's [02:49] a question I don't think I should answer in an open [02:53] setting. As I said, when I left we did not have an [02:55] investigation focused on President Trump. Did you [02:58] have. At the time that story was published, any [03:01] indication of any contact between Trump people and [03:05] Russians, intelligence officers, other government [03:08] officials, or close associates of the Russian [03:10] government? This one I can't answer sitting here. There [03:12] was a story on January 23 in the Washington Post that [03:15] says, entitled FBI Reviewed Flynn's Polls With Russian [03:19] Ambassador But Found Nothing Illicit. Is this story [03:23] accurate? I don't wanna comment on that senator coz [03:27] I'm pretty sure the bureau has not confirmed any [03:33] interception of communications. But you can't confirm [03:35] or deny that the conversation happened, and we would [03:38] need to know the contents of that conversation to know [03:41] if it was, in fact, improper. Yeah, I don't think I can talk [03:42] about that in open setting. Did you ever come close to [03:45] closing the investigation on Mr. Flynn? [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [03:50] I don't think I can talk about that in open setting either. [03:52] We can discuss these more in close setting then. And [03:55] the attorney general recused himself from the [03:57] investigation. But do you believe it was appropriate for [04:00] him to be involved in the firing of the chief investigator [04:03] of that case? Of that Russia interference? That's [04:07] something I can't answer sitting here. It's a reasonable [04:09] question but that would depend on a lot of things I [04:11] don't know. Like what did he know. What was he told, [04:14] did he realize that the president was doing it because [04:16] of the Russia investigation. Things like that. 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