--- title: James Comey Fired: White House Says Trump Had Considered It description: The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump had been considering James Comey's termination since the day he was elected canonical: https://time.com/4774493/james-comey-fired-donald-trump-election/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-10T19:56:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:01:55.733Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House: Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey og:description: Since election day og:url: https://time.com/4774493/james-comey-fired-donald-trump-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf061b54a35aaa7/6988ccb28e0601803846a4f0/rts15wva.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3367 og:image:height: 1894 og:image:alt: FILE PHOTO: A combination photo shows FBI Director James Comey and U.S. President Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House: Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey twitter:description: Since election day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf061b54a35aaa7/6988ccb28e0601803846a4f0/rts15wva.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 00:20 video:published: 2017-05-10 section: politics topics: FBI director termination, James Comey, presidential decision-making, Department of Justice review, White House statements, Trump administration genre: news, interview clip tones: formal, neutral, matter-of-fact emotions: seriousness (medium), defensiveness (low) sentiment: neutral audience: news readers, political observers, policy followers people: Donald Trump, James Comey organizations: White House, FBI, Department of Justice content_suitability: politics [00:00-00:20] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day > 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=4cbe55b4-77a2-41c4-9059-daf91566b634&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day [Watch (HLS stream): White House: President Trump Had Been Considering Firing James Comey Since Election Day](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ktG2xfo5.m3u8) (0:20)  _Published 2017-05-10. The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had been considering FBI Director James Comey's termination since the day he was elected, but wanted to give him a chance in the role first_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary A White House official says they spoke directly with President Trump, who had been considering removing FBI Director James Comey for some time. The official states the president made no request for a review at the Department of Justice. The clip is very short and covers only this statement. ## Key points - The speaker says they spoke directly to the president and heard from him personally about the matter. (00:00) - The president had reportedly been considering letting FBI Director Comey go, pretty much since the day he took office. (00:03) - The speaker states the president had considered Comey's removal for a long period, as the speaker frames it since taking office. (00:08) - According to the speaker, the president made no request to have a review conducted at the Department of Justice. (00:10) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:20] White House statement on Comey termination. A White House official relays the president's private consideration of firing FBI Director Comey and denies any request for a Justice Department review. ## Key quotes - [00:00] White House official: "I did speak directly to the president and heard directly from him" - [00:03] White House official: "he again had been considering letting director Comey go, pretty much since the day he took office." - [00:10] White House official: "there was no request by him to have on review at the department of justice." ## Questions this video answers - Had the president been considering firing FBI Director Comey for a long time? [00:03] - Did the president request a review at the Department of Justice? [00:10] - What is the source of the White House's claim about the president's thinking? [00:00] ## Content suitability - politics [00:00-00:20]: Discusses the potential firing of the FBI director by the sitting president.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 10, 2017 7:56 PM UTC The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had been considering FBI Director James Comey's termination since the day he was elected, but wanted to give him a chance in the role first  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 10, 2017 7:56 PM UTC The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump had been considering FBI Director [James Comey’s termination](http://time.com/4773873/james-comey-fired-whats-next/) since the day he was elected, but wanted to give him a chance in the role first. “The President lost confidence in Director Comey and frankly he had been considering letting Director Comey go since the day he was elected,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during the daily briefing. Sanders added that Trump had a “conversation” with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein on Monday, who had approached the president with his own concerns and was asked to put them into writing. Trump [fired Comey](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/) on Tuesday evening, telling him in a letter that new leadership was needed to restore trust in the FBI. In his letter, which the White House [publicized](http://time.com/4773237/donald-trump-letter-james-comey-fired/), he cited recommendations from Sessions and Rosenstein, who argued in a memo, [also publicized](http://time.com/4773246/james-comey-fired-justice-department-hillary-clinton-email-rod-rosenstein/), that Comey’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s private email server should be grounds for his removal. But the statement that Trump lost confidence in Comey contradicts what both he and his administration [said about the former FBI Director](http://time.com/4774012/james-comey-fired-donald-trump-past-statements/) as recently as last week. “I have confidence in him,” Trump said last month in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. He did, however, acknowledge that it wasn’t too late to remove him. “We’ll see what happens,” he told Bartiromo. And just one week ago, on May 3, [White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer](http://time.com/4742596/sean-spicer-easter-reading/) told reporters the president had “confidence” in Comey after he was asked why Trump was [tweeting](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/859601184285491201?lang=en) about the now-former FBI director giving Clinton a “free pass for many bad deeds,” presumably by deciding not to charges against her in her email case. “His point was after some of the comments that were made yesterday regarding the reason for the outcome of the election,” Spicer said at the time. “I think he just wanted to make it clear what exactly happened.” ## Transcript [00:00] I did speak directly to the president and heard directly [00:03] from him, that he again had been considering letting [00:08] director Comey go, pretty much since the day he took [00:10] office. 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