--- title: Paul Ryan: James Comey Was 'Compromised' description: House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said that former FBI Director James Comey was "compromised" during his tenure canonical: https://time.com/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-11T00:48:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:51:52.115Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Says Former FBI Director James Comey Was 'Compromised' og:description: He added that a special prosecutor is not needed to investigate Russia og:url: https://time.com/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3c2a1119a2a5179/6988cbea8fd2eee19f356e5e/paul-ryan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4420 og:image:height: 2486 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Says Former FBI Director James Comey Was 'Compromised' twitter:description: He added that a special prosecutor is not needed to investigate Russia twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3c2a1119a2a5179/6988cbea8fd2eee19f356e5e/paul-ryan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan: Former FBI Director James Comey Was 'Compromised' > 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 [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 11, 2017 12:48 AM UTC  House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 27, 2017. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 27, 2017. Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 11, 2017 12:48 AM UTC House Speaker [Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4765011/paul-ryan-spending-bill-republicans-defense-budget/) (R-Wis.) said that former FBI Director [James Comey](http://time.com/4774278/james-comey-fired-timeline/) was “compromised” during his tenure and that a [special prosecutor](http://time.com/4774442/james-comey-fired-independent-prosecutor-donald-trump-russia/) is not necessary to investigate Russia in the wake of his firing. “… I do think that Director Comey was compromised. Clearly, his superiors in the Justice Department felt that way. And the president made a presidential decision and removed him,” Ryan said Wednesday in an [interview with Bret Baier during _Special Report_ on Fox News.](http://www.speaker.gov/video/speaker-ryan-firing-fbi-director-james-comey?utm%5Fsource=Speaker.gov+Master+List&utm%5Fcampaign=1482d65b6f-EMAIL%5FCAMPAIGN%5F2017%5F05%5F10&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=0%5F3e173f5a25-1482d65b6f-157460549) When asked about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and the Democrats’ calls to hire a special prosecutor to handle a probe on [Russia’s possible ties with 2016 U.S. presidential election](http://time.com/4774420/vladimir-putin-james-comey-fired-russia/), Ryan said it wasn’t necessary. “First of all, we have three investigations going on right now,” Ryan began. “We have a House investigation by our Intelligence Committee, which is the appropriate committee to do that, I believe. And we have the Senate Intelligence Committee—you just played Richard Burr—doing an investigation. And you have the FBI investigating all things Russia. So I don’t think that that’s a good idea.” Comey had been leading the Russia investigation before he was abruptly fired on Tuesday by President Donald Trump, who said that the former bureau chief was just [“not doing a good job.”](http://time.com/4774102/donald-trump-james-comey-fired/) But Democrats were quick to claim that Comey’s firing was intended to prevent Comey from further looking into the Trump Administration’s alleged ties with Russia. Even some Republicans have voiced concerns about the firing. “I do have questions about why he was dismissed at this time,” said former presidential candidate and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan: Former FBI Director James Comey Was 'Compromised'","datePublished":"2017-05-11T00:48:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:51:52.115Z","description":"He added that a special prosecutor is not needed to investigate Russia","url":"https://time.com/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/","keywords":["Congress","James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3c2a1119a2a5179/6988cbea8fd2eee19f356e5e/paul-ryan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3c2a1119a2a5179/6988cbea8fd2eee19f356e5e/paul-ryan1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan","caption":"Paul Ryan","creditText":"Manuel Balce Ceneta—AP","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/4775184/paul-ryan-fbi-director-james-comey-compromised/","name":"Paul Ryan: Former FBI Director James Comey Was 'Compromised'"}}]}] ```