Age, Biography, and Wiki
James Brien Comey Jr. was born on December 14, 1960, making him 64 years old in 2025. He is widely recognized for his legal and public service career, especially during his tenure as FBI Director from 2013 to 2017, and for his high-profile involvement in politically charged investigations, including those related to Hillary Clinton’s emails and Russian interference in the 2016 election. His Wikipedia page provides a comprehensive overview of his life and professional achievements.
| Occupation | Republicans |
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| Date of Birth | 14 December 1960 |
| Age | 64 Years |
| Birth Place | Yonkers, New York, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Sagittarius |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is no publicly confirmed information regarding James Comey’s height, weight, or body measurements. He is, however, often noted for his tall stature, a detail he has referenced himself on social media with comments like "Taller and funnier in person".
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Dating & Relationship Status
James Comey is married and identifies himself as a husband and father on his official social media. He keeps his personal life private and has not publicly disclosed details about his spouse or children.
Brien Comey. His grandfather, William J. Comey, was an officer and later commissioner of the Yonkers Police Department. The family moved to Allendale, New Jersey, in the early 1970s. His father worked in corporate real estate and his mother was a computer consultant and homemaker. Comey is of Irish heritage. He attended Northern Highlands Regional High School in Allendale. In 1977, he and his brother were victims of a home invasion by a criminal called "The Ramsey Rapist". Comey graduated with honors from the College of William and Mary in 1982, majoring in chemistry and religion. In his senior thesis Comey analyzed the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and the televangelist Jerry Falwell, emphasizing their common belief in public action. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Chicago Law School in 1985.
In February 2003, Comey was the lead prosecutor of Martha Stewart, who was indicted on the charges of securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and lying to an FBI agent. She sold 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems, thereby avoiding a loss of $45,673. The next day, the Food and Drug Administration refused to accept the company's application for Erbitux. In March 2003, he led the indictment of ImClone CEO Samuel Waksal, who pleaded guilty for avoiding paying $1.2 million in sales taxes on $15 million worth of contemporary paintings. The works were by Mark Rothko, Richard Serra, Roy Lichtenstein, and Willem de Kooning. In April 2003, he led the indictment of Frank Quattrone, who allegedly urged subordinates in 2000 to destroy evidence sought by investigators looking into his investment banking practices at Credit Suisse First Boston. In June 2003, he revealed "Operation Project Meltdown", which started in January 1999 by the El Dorado Task Force, that found a money laundering scheme avoiding suspicious activity reports (SARS) from banks in which very large amounts of both gold and diamonds from West 47th Street jewelers in New York City were shipped to Colombia as profits of a Colombian narcotics cartel. This resulted in the arrests of eleven jewelry dealers and others including Luis Kuichis, owner of Alberto Jewelry, Jaime Ross, owner of Ross Refiners of 47 West 47th Street, and a father and son Roman and Eduard Nektakov, respectively, who are from Uzbekistan and immigrated to New York City in 1972 settling in Forest Hills and establishing Roman Jewelers in 1974 on West 47th Street. In November 2003, he led the prosecutions in "Operation Wooden Nickel", which resulted in complaints and indictments against 47 people involved in foreign exchange trading scams.
On March 10, 2004, while the issue was still pending, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft was recovering in the intensive care unit at the George Washington University Hospital after gall bladder surgery. His wife was with him. He had recused himself from any Justice Department decisions while recovering, designating Comey as acting attorney general. In his hospital room he was visited by White House officials Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card, who pressured him to sign papers reauthorizing the domestic surveillance program. Alarmed by the situation, his wife called for Comey to join them, and he summoned FBI Director Mueller and two other DOJ officials, Jack Goldsmith and Patrick Philbin. None of the four would agree to reauthorize the program, and Ashcroft refused to take any action while he was recused. In Goldsmith's 2007 memoir, he said Comey had come to the hospital to support Ashcroft in withstanding pressure from the White House. Comey later confirmed these events took place in testimony to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on May 16, 2007. Mueller's notes on the March 10, 2004, incident, which were released to a House Judiciary committee, confirm that he "Saw (the) AG, John Ashcroft in the room (who was) feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed."
In February 2015, Comey delivered a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., regarding the relationship between police and the African-American community. He said that, "At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo – a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups", mentioning as an example his own Irish ancestors, who he said had, in the early 20th century, often been regarded by law enforcement as drunks and criminals. He added, "The Irish had some tough times, but little compares to the experience on our soil of black Americans", going on to highlight current societal issues such as lack of opportunities for employment and education which can lead young black men to crime. Comey stated:"Police officers on patrol in our nation's cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color. Something happens to people of good will working in that environment. After years of police work, officers often can't help be influenced by the cynicism they feel. A mental shortcut becomes almost irresistible."
On July 5, 2016, Comey announced the FBI's recommendation that the United States Department of Justice file no criminal charges relating to the Hillary Clinton email controversy. During a 15-minute press conference in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, Comey called Secretary Clinton's and her top aides' behavior "extremely careless", but concluded that "no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case". It was believed to be the first time the FBI disclosed its prosecutorial recommendation to the Department of Justice publicly. On July 7, 2016, Comey was questioned by a Republican-led House committee during a hearing regarding the FBI's recommendation. On October 26, 2016, two weeks before the presidential election, Comey learned that FBI agents investigating an unrelated case involving former congressman Anthony Weiner had discovered emails on Weiner's computer between his wife, Huma Abedin, and Clinton. Claiming he believed it would take months to review Weiner's emails, Comey decided he had to inform Congress that the investigation was being reopened due to new information. Justice Department lawyers warned him that giving out public information about an investigation was inconsistent with department policy, but he considered the policy to be "guidance" rather than an ironclad rule. He decided that to not reveal the new information would be misleading to Congress and the public. On October 28, Comey sent a letter to members of Congress advising them that the FBI was reviewing more emails. Members of Congress revealed the information to the public within minutes. Republican and Democratic lawmakers, as well as the Clinton and Trump campaigns, called on Comey to provide additional details.
Comey met his wife, Patrice Failor, when they were both students at the College of William and Mary. They married in 1987 and are the parents of five children, and a son who died in infancy. He has said that he learned to make something good happen after a tragedy. They have also been foster parents. As of 2023, Comey and his wife reside in McLean, Virginia.
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| Husband | Patrice Failor (m. 1987) |
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Net Worth and Salary
James Comey’s estimated net worth in 2025 is between $15 million and $16 million. His wealth stems from a combination of sources:
- Government Salary: As FBI Director, his annual salary was approximately $185,000.
- Private Sector Earnings: During his tenure at Bridgewater Associates (2010–2013), he earned several million dollars annually, with a peak of $6 million in his final year, plus a $3 million profit participation payout after leaving.
- Book Deals: In 2017, Comey signed a book deal for "A Higher Loyalty," receiving a $2 million advance. The book became a bestseller and significantly boosted his income.
- Speaking Engagements: Comey is known to earn up to $200,000 per speaking engagement, which surpasses his former government salary.
Comey left the Department of Justice in August 2005. In August 2005, it was announced that Comey would enter the private sector, becoming the general counsel and senior vice president for Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Department of Defense's largest contractor. Comey's tenure took effect on October 1, 2005, serving in that capacity until June 2, 2010, when he announced he would leave Lockheed Martin to join the senior management committee at Bridgewater Associates, a Connecticut-based investment management firm. Comey received a three million dollar payout from Bridgewater. His net worth was estimated at 14 million dollars in 2013.
On May 3, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Comey said that Russia is the "greatest threat of any nation on Earth ... One of the biggest lessons learned is that Russia will do this again. Because of 2016 election, they know it worked." He also said that Russia should pay a price for interfering.
Career, Business, and Investments
Legal Career:
- Early Career: Comey began as a law clerk for a federal judge and later joined the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
- U.S. Attorney: He became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1987, prosecuting high-profile organized crime cases, and later served as U.S. Attorney for the same district in 2001.
- Deputy Attorney General: Appointed in 2003, Comey played a significant role in national legal matters.
In September 2013, Barack Obama appointed Comey to the position of Director of the FBI. In that capacity, he was responsible for overseeing the FBI's investigation of the Hillary Clinton email controversy. His role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election was highly controversial. Some analysts claim his decisions shortly before the 2016 election might have cost her the presidency, particularly his decision to reopen the investigation into her emails less than two weeks before the election. On June 14, 2018, DOJ Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released his report on the FBI's handling of the Clinton email investigation, which criticized Comey's actions during the 2016 election.
Comey was the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, from January 2002 to the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General on December 11, 2003. Among his first tasks was to take over the investigation into President Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich, which Comey concluded involved no illegality. In November 2002, he led the prosecution of three men involved in one of the largest identity fraud cases in American history. The fraud had lasted two years and resulted in thousands of people across the country collectively losing over $3 million. He also led the indictment of Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas for bank fraud, wire fraud, and securities fraud. Rigas was convicted of the charges in 2004 and in 2005, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Adelphia Corporation was forced to file for bankruptcy after it acknowledged that it took $3.3 billion in false loans. It was "one of the most elaborate and extensive corporate frauds in United States history".
On February 1, 2013, after leaving Bridgewater, he was appointed by Columbia University Law School as a senior research scholar and Hertog fellow on national security law. He was also appointed to the board of directors of the London-based financial institution HSBC Holdings, to improve the company's compliance program after its $1.9 billion settlement with the Justice Department for failing to comply with basic due diligence requirements for money laundering regarding Mexican drug cartels and terrorism financing. Since 2012, he has also served on the Defense Legal Policy Board.
In October 2015, Comey gave a speech in which he raised concerns that body worn video results in less effective policing; this opinion contradicted the President's public position. Days later, President Obama met with Comey in the Oval Office to address the issue.
In January 2017, Comey first met Trump when he briefed the president-elect on the Steele dossier. On January 27, 2017, Trump and Comey dined alone at the White House. According to Trump, Comey requested the dinner so as to ask to keep his job and, when asked, told Trump that he was not under investigation. Trump has stated that he did not ask Comey to pledge his loyalty. However, according to Comey's associates, Trump requested the dinner, asked Comey to pledge his loyalty, twice, to which Comey replied, twice, that he would always be honest, until Trump asked him if he would promise "honest loyalty", which Comey did.
In early May, a few days before he was fired, Comey reportedly asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in funding and personnel for the Russia probe. On May 11, 2017, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he was unaware of the request and stated, "I believe we have the adequate resources to do it and I know that we have resourced that investigation adequately."
The White House initially stated the firing was on the recommendation of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, to both of whom Comey reported. Rosenstein had sent a memorandum to Sessions, forwarded to Trump, in which Rosenstein listed objections to Comey's conduct in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. It allowed the Trump administration to attribute Comey's firing to Rosenstein's recommendation about the Clinton email controversy. It was later revealed that on May 8, Trump had requested Sessions and Rosenstein to detail in writing a case against Comey. Rosenstein's memo was forwarded to Trump on May 9 and was then construed as a recommendation to dismiss Comey, which Trump immediately did. In Trump's termination letter to Comey, he attributed the firing to the respective letters from Sessions and Rosenstein. On May 10, Trump told reporters he had fired Comey because Comey "wasn't doing a good job". White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that the FBI rank and file had lost faith in Comey and that she had "heard from countless members of the FBI ... grateful and thankful for the president's decision."
On May 19, The New York Times published excerpts of an official White House document summarizing Trump's private meeting, the day after the firing, with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, in the Oval Office. Trump told Kislyak and Lavrov that he "just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job". Trump added: "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off", further adding "I'm not under investigation."
In the summer of 2017, Comey gave the convocation speech and a series of lectures at Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C., In the fall of 2018, Comey returned to his alma mater, the College of William & Mary, to teach a course on ethical leadership. He became an executive professor in education, a non-tenured position at the College. Comey joined assistant professor Drew Stelljes to teach the course during the 2018–2019 academic year.
Social Network
James Comey maintains a presence on social media, notably on Instagram, where he shares personal insights, promotional content, and engages with his audience. His handle is @comey.
In April 2015, Comey spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, arguing in favor of more Holocaust education. After The Washington Post printed a version of his speech, Anne Applebaum wrote that his reference to "the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary" was inaccurately saying that Poles were as responsible for the Holocaust as Germans. His speech was also criticized by Polish authorities, and Stephen D. Mull, United States ambassador to Poland, was called to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Applebaum wrote that Comey, "in a speech that was reprinted in The Post arguing for more Holocaust education, demonstrated just how badly he needs it himself".
In June 2015, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that it had been the target of a data breach targeting the records of as many as four million people. Later, Comey put the number at 18 million. The Washington Post has reported that the attack originated in China, citing unnamed government officials. Comey said: "It is a very big deal from a national security perspective and from a counterintelligence perspective. It's a treasure trove of information about everybody who has worked for, tried to work for, or works for the United States government."
Comey was broadly criticized for his actions from both the right and the left. According to the Clinton campaign, the letters effectively stopped the campaign's momentum by hurting Clinton's chances with voters who were receptive to Trump's claims of a "rigged system". Polling authority Nate Silver commented on Twitter that Comey had a "large, measurable impact on the race". Other analysts, such as Democratic strategist David Axelrod, said that Comey's public actions were just one of several cumulative factors that cost Clinton the election. On May 2, 2017, Clinton told CNN's Christiane Amanpour: "I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me and got scared off." On May 3, 2017, Comey testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that it "makes me mildly nauseous to think that we might have had some impact on the election", but that "honestly, it wouldn't change the decision" to release the information.
In September 2017, two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), alleged that Comey planned to exonerate Clinton in her email scandal long before the agency had completed its investigation. The story was confirmed by the FBI in October, which released a Comey memo dated May 2. Comey had interviewed Clinton as part of his investigation on July 2. Former FBI official Ron Hosko reacted saying, "You tend to reach final conclusions as the investigation is logically ended. Not months before." Donald Trump called it "disgraceful". In contrast, former Department of Justice spokesman Matthew Miller wrote on Twitter, "The decision is never 'made' until the end, even when there's a 99% chance it is only going to go one way."
On February 14, the day after President Trump fired Michael T. Flynn, Comey met with the president during a terrorism threat briefing in the Oval Office. At the end of the meeting Trump asked the other security chiefs to leave, then told Comey to consider imprisoning reporters over leaks and that "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." Comey, as is usual, immediately documented the meeting in a memo and shared it with FBI officials. In his congressional testimony, Comey clarified that he took Trump's comment to be "an order" to drop the Flynn investigation, but "that he did not consider this an order to drop the Russia investigation as a whole".
On March 20, in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey confirmed that the FBI has been investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether any crimes were committed. During the hearing, the White House Twitter account posted "The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence the electoral process", which Comey, when he was read the tweet by Congressman Jim Himes, directly refuted. Comey refuted the President's Trump Tower wiretapping allegations, testifying "I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the FBI."
In 2016, Comey and his agency were criticized for their request to Apple Inc. to install a "back door" for U.S. surveillance agencies to use. Former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden stated: "Jim would like a back door available to American law enforcement in all devices globally. And, frankly, I think on balance that actually harms American safety and security, even though it might make Jim's job a bit easier in some specific circumstances." Comey, speaking at a cybersecurity conference in 2017, told the audience, "There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America; there is no place outside of judicial reach."
By May 11, however, in a direct contradiction of the earlier statements by the White House, Vice President Mike Pence, and the contents of the dismissal letter itself, President Trump stated to Lester Holt in an NBC News interview that Comey's dismissal was in fact "my decision" and "I was going to fire [Comey] regardless of recommendation [by Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein]." Trump later said of the dismissal "when I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'" In the same televised interview, Trump labelled Comey "a showboat" and "grandstander".
A month before Comey's book was released, presale orders made it the top seller on Amazon. The boom was attributed to a series of Twitter attacks on Comey by Trump, in which Trump claimed that Comey "knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!" In response, Comey tweeted, "Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not." Comey's autobiography was well-received, with The New York Times calling it "very persuasive" and describing the book as "absorbing" in its book review.
In 2017, a pseudonymous Twitter account called @projectexile7 (later changed to @formerbu), which uses "Reinhold Niebuhr" as its display name, was speculated to be operated by Comey, and he subsequently confirmed it to be his.
In 2023, Comey's first novel, a legal thriller entitled Central Park West, was published by Mysterious Press. He told The Washington Post that he was working on more novels, saying "I want this to be my job". In 2024, he published his second novel, Westport. In 2025, he published his third novel, FDR Drive.
In February 2019, in the midst of controversy surrounding a blackface picture in new Virginia governor Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook, and a national debate about the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials, Comey published an op-ed in The Washington Post, suggesting that Virginia should get rid of the Confederate statues in Richmond: "Expressing bipartisan horror at blackface photos is essential, but removing the statues would show all of America that Virginia really has changed."
In a May 2019 op-ed published in the New York Times, as Attorney General William Barr was scheduled to be questioned in congressional hearings, Comey wrote: "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." He concluded with, "Of course, to stay, you must be seen as on his team, so you make further compromises. You use his language, praise his leadership, tout his commitment to values. And then you are lost. He has eaten your soul."
Comey was a registered Republican for most of his life. He donated to Senator John McCain's campaign in the 2008 presidential election and to Governor Mitt Romney's campaign in the 2012 presidential election. He disclosed during congressional testimony in July 2016 that he was no longer registered with any party. In an interview with ABC News in April 2018, Comey said that the Republican Party "left me and many others", and that "these people don't represent anything I believe in". In July 2018, Comey urged voters to vote for Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections through Twitter. He wrote, "This Republican Congress has proven incapable of fulfilling the Founders' design that 'Ambition must ... counteract ambition.' All who believe in this country's values must vote for Democrats this fall. Policy differences don't matter right now. History has its eyes on us." He donated to the campaign of Virginia Democratic candidate Jennifer Wexton in the 2018 elections and canvassed for Wexton. He donated to Senator Amy Klobuchar's campaign in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries; following the suspension of her campaign, he then endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.
Education
- College of William & Mary: Graduated with a degree in chemistry and religion.
- University of Chicago Law School: Earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.
During the presidential administration of George W. Bush, Comey was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York from January 2002 to December 2003 and later the United States deputy attorney general from December 2003 to August 2005. In August 2005, Comey left the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to become a senior vice president of Lockheed Martin as general counsel. In 2010, he became general counsel at Bridgewater Associates. In early 2013, he left Bridgewater to become a senior research scholar and Hertog fellow on national security law at Columbia Law School. He served on the board of directors of HSBC Holdings until July 2013.
After law school, Comey was a law clerk for then-United States district judge John M. Walker Jr. in Manhattan. Then, he was an associate for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in their New York office. He joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he worked from 1987 to 1993. While there, he was Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and helped prosecute the Gambino crime family.
From 1996 to 2001, Comey was Managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Richmond Division of the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. In 1996, Comey acted as deputy special counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee. He also was the lead prosecutor in the case concerning the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. While in Richmond, Comey was an adjunct professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law.
In an October 23 speech at the University of Chicago Law School, Comey said:"I remember being asked why we were doing so much prosecuting in black neighborhoods and locking up so many black men. After all, Richmond was surrounded by areas with largely white populations. Surely there were drug dealers in the suburbs. My answer was simple: We are there in those neighborhoods because that's where people are dying. These are the guys we lock up because they are the predators choking off the life of a community. We did this work because we believed that all lives matter, especially the most vulnerable."
The Clinton campaign, former officials, and political commentators criticized his decision to announce the reopened investigation, which was described as an October surprise, a "serious mistake", and an "error in judgment". Law professor Richard Painter filed complaints with the United States Office of Special Counsel and the United States Office of Government Ethics over Comey's letter to Congress.
Comey is of Irish descent and was raised in a Roman Catholic household but now belongs to the United Methodist Church, where he has taught Sunday school. He is 6 ft tall.
Their oldest daughter, Maurene, graduated from Harvard Law School in 2013 and is currently an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
