--- title: James Comey: White House Suggestions Prosecuting Comey description: The White House said that the Justice Department should examine the possibility of prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey. canonical: https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-12T22:54:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:51:07.026Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House: Justice Department Should 'Look at' Prosecuting James Comey og:description: "I think that's something that certainly should be looked at" og:url: https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3511dc9f73fdad1/6988d0d4e76ad2988a62dcfe/james-comey-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4216 og:image:height: 2372 og:image:alt: 170608_James Comey testifies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House: Justice Department Should 'Look at' Prosecuting James Comey twitter:description: "I think that's something that certainly should be looked at" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3511dc9f73fdad1/6988d0d4e76ad2988a62dcfe/james-comey-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House: Justice Department Should 'Look at' Prosecuting James Comey > 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=6cffb1c8-ed03-46be-9f30-249793e14cd1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: WH: President 100% right in firing James Comey [Watch (HLS stream): WH: President 100% right in firing James Comey](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OZBruKej.m3u8) (0:53)  _Published 2017-09-12. WH: President 100% right in firing James Comey_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 12, 2017 10:54 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 12, 2017 10:54 PM UTC The White House said Tuesday that the Justice Department should examine the possibility of prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey, who President Trump abruptly fired last May. “That’s not the President’s role. That’s the job of the Department of Justice, and something they should certainly look at,” Sanders said Monday at the daily briefing when asked if Trump would encourage such a prosecution. “But I think if there’s ever a moment where we feel someone has broken the law, particularly if they’re the head of the FBI, I think that’s something that certainly should be looked at.” A representative for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to request for comment. Sanders’ remarks come one day after she suggested the possibility of Comey lying during his sworn testimony before Congress about his time working for Trump. If those allegations are true, he would be susceptible to charges of perjury, there’s no evidence to substantiate Sanders’ claims. President Trump announced he was [firing Comey](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/) on May 9, citing recommendations from the two top ranking officials in the Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, that Comey should be ousted because of the way he handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server during the 2016 election. The rationale was puzzling, however, since Trump had praised Comey’s decision to re-open the probe in 2016\. Trump conceded later that week in May that he had fired Comey over [concerns about the investigation](http://time.com/4776737/president-donald-trump-james-comey-fired-russia-investigation/) into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia, which Comey was overseeing. “When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story,” he told NBC’s Lester Holt May 11. Trump’s decision to oust Comey was condemned on both sides of the aisle, and even by members of his own staff. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist who has since left the White House, said it was possibly the biggest mistake “in modern political history” in an interview on _60 Minutes._ But Sanders said Tuesday that Trump still stands by his decision. “He knew at the time that it could be bad for him politically but he also knew and felt he had an obligation to do what was right,” Sanders said Tuesday, adding that Trump has “vindicated” by Comey’s own acknowledgements that he had leaked details of the memos he kept of his conversations with Trump. ## Transcript The President is proud of the decision that he made. The President was 100 % right in firing James Comey. He knew at the time that it could be bad for him politically, but he also knew and felt he had an obligation to do what was right and do what was right for the American people. I think there's no secret. Comey, by his own self admission Leaked privileged government information weeks before President Trump fired him. Comey testified that if an FBI agent engaged in the same practice, they'd face serious repercussions. I think he set his own stage for himself on that front. His actions were improper and likely could have been illegal. Comey leaked memos to the New York Times, your own outlet. He politicized an investigation by signaling he would exonerate Hillary Clinton before he ever interviewed her or other key witnesses. He's very happy with the decision he made, and I think he's been fully vindicated by a lot of those new things and knowing that it was the right one. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/"},"headline":"White House: Justice Department Should 'Look at' Prosecuting James Comey","datePublished":"2017-09-12T22:54:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:51:07.026Z","description":"\"I think that's something that certainly should be looked at\"","url":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3511dc9f73fdad1/6988d0d4e76ad2988a62dcfe/james-comey-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3511dc9f73fdad1/6988d0d4e76ad2988a62dcfe/james-comey-2017.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170608_James Comey testifies","caption":"US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-INTELLIGENCE","creditText":"SAUL LOEB—AFP/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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/","name":"White House: Justice Department Should 'Look at' Prosecuting James Comey"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"WH: President 100% right in firing James Comey","description":"WH: President 100% right in firing James Comey","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/OZBruKej/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-12T22:44:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OZBruKej.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/","duration":"PT53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4938865/sarah-huckabee-sanders-james-comey-prosecution-justice-department-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```