--- title: James Comey Fired: Comey Was Supported By FBI Rank & File description: Acting Director Andrew McCabe disputed a White House claim that rank and file FBI employees had "lost confidence" in James Comey canonical: https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-11T16:02:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:14.033Z article:section: Politics og:title: Acting Director Disputes White House Claim that FBI 'Lost Confidence' in Comey og:description: "Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day." og:url: https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd38059055e727bd3/6988cce3a988ca308a6bc2db/gettyimages-681934322.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe Testifies before Congress og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Acting Director Disputes White House Claim that FBI 'Lost Confidence' in Comey twitter:description: "Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd38059055e727bd3/6988cce3a988ca308a6bc2db/gettyimages-681934322.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Acting Director Disputes White House Claim that FBI 'Lost Confidence' in Comey > 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. ## Video: In His Words: President Trump On James Comey [Watch (HLS stream): In His Words: President Trump On James Comey](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BPe3t011.m3u8) (1:39)  _Published 2017-05-10. President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired FBI Director James Comey — a controversial move that followed months of Trump's shifting opinions about him._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 11, 2017 4:02 PM UTC  Andrew McCabe, at a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington, on May 11, 2017 Andrew McCabe, at a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington, on May 11, 2017 Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 11, 2017 4:02 PM UTC Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe disputed White House claims that rank and file members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations had “lost confidence” in former [Director James Comey](http://time.com/4774012/james-comey-fired-donald-trump-past-statements/). McCabe said it is not accurate to say that rank and file did not support Comey while [testifying before a Senate panel on Thursday](http://time.com/4775707/andrew-mccabe-congress-testimony/?xid=homepage). “Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day,” McCabe said in response to questions at a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I can confidently tell you that the majority, the vast majority of FBI employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey.” White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that President Trump was moved to fire Director Comey because a swath of people within the federal government had lost confidence in his ability to lead. “The President, over the last several months, lost confidence in Director Comey. The DOJ lost confidence in Director Comey. Bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey,” she said. “And most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.” McCabe’s statements at Thursday’s hearing threw water on that explanation from Sanders. McCabe told Senators that he has personally worked closely with Director Comey throughout his career at the FBI and holds him in high regard. “I worked very, very closely with Director Comey,” McCabe said. “I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard. I have the highest respect for his abilities, his integrity, and it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/"},"headline":"Acting Director Disputes White House Claim that FBI 'Lost Confidence' in Comey","datePublished":"2017-05-11T16:02:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:14.033Z","description":"\"Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day\"","url":"https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/","keywords":["Congress","FBI","Donald Trump","James Comey"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd38059055e727bd3/6988cce3a988ca308a6bc2db/gettyimages-681934322.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd38059055e727bd3/6988cce3a988ca308a6bc2db/gettyimages-681934322.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe Testifies before Congress","caption":"Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe Testifies before Congress","creditText":"Anadolu Agency/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/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/","name":"Acting Director Disputes White House Claim that FBI 'Lost Confidence' in Comey"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"In His Words: President Trump On James Comey","description":"President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired FBI Director James Comey — a controversial move that followed months of Trump's shifting opinions about him.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BPe3t011/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-10T18:47:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BPe3t011.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/","duration":"PT1M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4775840/james-comey-fbi-fired-trump-mccabe-confidence/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```