--- title: Donald Trump: 'Not Too Late' to Ask James Comey to Resign description: "It's not too late, but, you know, I have confidence in him. We'll see what happens." Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo canonical: https://time.com/4736823/donald-trump-james-comey-fbi-russia-investigation/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-12T18:31:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:27.125Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump: It's 'Not Too Late' to Ask James Comey to Resign og:description: "It's not too late, but, you know, I have confidence in him. We'll see what happens." og:url: https://time.com/4736823/donald-trump-james-comey-fbi-russia-investigation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: House Intelligence Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump: It's 'Not Too Late' to Ask James Comey to Resign twitter:description: "It's not too late, but, you know, I have confidence in him. We'll see what happens." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a328e24574323e2/6988bf328e0601cd3a4699ec/james-comey-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump: It's 'Not Too Late' to Ask FBI Director James Comey to Resign ## Video: FBI Director Comey Comments on POTUS Tweet [Watch (HLS stream): FBI Director Comey Comments on POTUS Tweet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/w53jAggk.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2017-03-20. FBI Director James Comey comments on President Trump's tweets during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 12, 2017 6:31 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 [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 12, 2017 6:31 PM UTC President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it is not too late to ask [FBI Director James Comey ](http://time.com/4707021/comey-hearing-gravamen-watergate/)to step aside from his position, although he acknowledged he has “confidence” in him. “It’s not too late, but, you know, I have confidence in him. We’ll see what happens,” [Trump](http://time.com/4712153/climate-change-deniers-donald-trump-epa-global-warming/) told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. “You know, it’s going to be interesting.” Bartiromo had asked Trump directly if it was a mistake that he hadn’t asked Comey to step aside at the beginning of his presidency, and if it was too late to change course. Comey acknowledged in a Congressional testimony on March 20 that the [FBI is investigating](http://time.com/4706646/fbi-russia-james-comey-testimony/) Russian meddling in the 2016 election along with possible links to the Trump campaign. [Former President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4702883/barack-obama-2017-ncaa-bracket/) appointed him to a ten year term as FBI Director in 2013. Trump also invoked [Comey’s press conference](https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system) in July 2016 where he said Hillary Clinton would not be indicted for her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State, although he said she and her colleagues “were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” “Don’t forget, when Jim Comey came out, he saved [Hillary Clinton,”](http://motto.time.com/4731503/hillary-clinton-medgar-evans-cuny-commencement/) Trump told Bartiromo. “People don’t realize that.” “When he was reading those charges, she was guilty on every charge,” Trump continued. “And then he said, she was essentially OK. But he — she wasn’t OK, because she was guilty on every charge.” Trump did praise Comey, however, when he announced [he was re-opening the probe](http://time.com/4549527/hillary-clinton-emails-fbi-reopen/) into Clinton’s email server in October of 2016. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4736823/donald-trump-james-comey-fbi-russia-investigation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4736823/donald-trump-james-comey-fbi-russia-investigation/"},"headline":"President Trump: It's 'Not Too Late' to Ask FBI Director James Comey to Resign","datePublished":"2017-04-12T18:31:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:27.125Z","description":"\"It's not too late, but, you know, I have confidence in him. 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