--- title: Comey Testimony: FBI Director Confirms Investigation description: The FBI is investigating Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, including potential links with the Trump campaign canonical: https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-20T14:46:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:55:40.959Z article:section: Politics og:title: FBI Director James Comey Confirms Russia Investigation og:description: Including "an assessment of whether any crimes were committed" og:url: https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: House Intelligence Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FBI Director James Comey Confirms Russia Investigation twitter:description: Including "an assessment of whether any crimes were committed" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FBI Director James Comey Confirms Russia Investigation > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 20, 2017 2:46 PM UTC  FBI Director James Comey testifies during for a House Intelligence Committee hearing in Longworth Building on Russian interference with the 2016 election on March 20, 2017. FBI Director James Comey testifies during for a House Intelligence Committee hearing in Longworth Building on Russian interference with the 2016 election on March 20, 2017. Tom Williams—Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 20, 2017 2:46 PM UTC The FBI is investigating [Russian attempts to interfere](http://time.com/4706424/donald-trump-twitter-russia-election-democrats/) in the 2016 election, including [potential links with the Trump campaign](http://time.com/4706365/trump-comey-russia-inquiry/), FBI Director James Comey said Monday. Speaking before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey said that he had been authorized by the Department of Justice to [confirm the investigation](http://time.com/4706267/trump-wiretap-house-intelligence-fbi-russia-nsa/) publicly “in an extraordinary step” since the agency does not typically do so with open investigations. “I have been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that the FBI, as part out our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts,” he said. He added that “will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed.” It is the first time the FBI officially confirmed that the scope of the investigation included Trump’s possible ties with Russia, confirming months of sporadic leaks to the press. Comey said that he would not be able to speak about any of the specifics of the case because it is an open and ongoing investigation. “I know that is extremely frustrating to some folks, but it is the way it has to be for reasons that I hope you and the American people can understand,” he said. “The FBI is very careful in how we handle information about our cases and about the people we are investigating.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/"},"headline":"FBI Director James Comey Confirms Russia Investigation","datePublished":"2017-03-20T14:46:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:55:40.959Z","description":"The FBI is investigating Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, including potential links with the Trump campaign","url":"https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/","keywords":["Congress","russia","FBI","Donald Trump","James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Intelligence Committee","caption":"House Intelligence Committee","creditText":"Tom Williams—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/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/","name":"FBI Director James Comey Confirms Russia Investigation"}}]}] ```