page_title: Mueller report
section_title: James Comey
hierarchical_section_title: Mueller report / Reactions / James Comey
caption_attribution_description: English: James Comey's official portrait as the Seventh Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
context_page_description: The Mueller report, officially titled Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, is the official report documenting the findings and conclusions of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election, allegations of conspiracy or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, and allegations of obstruction of justice. The report was submitted to Attorney General William Barr on March 22, 2019, and a redacted version of the 448-page report was publicly released by the Department of Justice on April 18, 2019. It is divided into two volumes. The redactions from the report and its supporting material are under President Trump's temporary "protective assertion" of executive privilege as of May 8, 2019, preventing the material from being passed to Congress, despite earlier reassurance by Barr that Trump "confirmed" he would not exert privilege.
context_section_description: On May 1, 2019, James Comey wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times, in which he wrote about his thoughts on President Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, among others:
  Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them. Sometimes what they reveal is inspiring. For example, James Mattis, the former secretary of defense, resigned over principle, a concept so alien to Mr. Trump that it took days for the president to realize what had happened, before he could start lying about the man.
  But more often, proximity to an amoral leader reveals something depressing. I think that's at least part of what we've seen with Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein. Accomplished people lacking inner strength can't resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis's to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.
  On May 8, 2019, in an interview with CBS This Morning, James Comey called Attorney General William Barr's four-page-letter to Congress summarizing the report "misleading" and "inadequate". "It certainly gave the impression that Bob Mueller had decided that he was not going to rule on this question of obstruction of justice when that's not what Mueller did. Mueller laid it out and signaled to a future prosecutor after this individual is out of office you ought to take a serious look at charging him," Comey said. Comey also talked about the ten episodes of alleged obstruction of justice detailed within the report "deeply concerning" to him.
  On May 10, 2019, Comey participated in an CNN town hall event with Anderson Cooper. Cooper asked about Comey's thoughts on Barr's handling of the report and related matters. "I think he acted in a way that's less than honorable in the way he described it in writing and described it during a press conference, and continues to talk as if he's the president's lawyer. That is not the attorney general's job," Comey said. "It doesn't make me happy to say this, but I think he has lost most of his reputation with the way he's conducted himself," Comey continued. Comey also commented about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Comey called Rosenstein "a man of accomplishment but not of strong character," reports CNN. Comey also slammed Rosenstein's comments about Trump's respect for the rule of law. Comey also said that if Trump were not president, he would be charged.
caption: Former FBI Director James Comey
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