Former FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday that former President Trump “is coming” for the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Comey was asked by MSNBC’s Alex Wagner what a second Trump term would mean for the FBI, which Comey led from 2013-17. Comey said Trump will be targeting both the FBI and the DOJ if elected to a second term in the White House.
“Serious for the Justice Department and the FBI, because Trump is coming for those institutions. He knows their power, and I think he has regrets that he didn’t work hard enough to corrupt them last time. So, he’s coming for them, and that’s a danger for all Americans,” he said on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight.”
“He’s going to put people in positions in those organizations. He didn’t have all-stars the last time; he’ll have the bottom of the barrel this time, but people who will want to do his will — and that should worry every American. This election matters because of a reason like that,” he added.
Trump has frequently taken aim at the FBI and the DOJ, especially since being charged in multiple criminal cases in 2023. He vowed last year to “completely overhaul” the Justice Department to investigate “radical” attorneys general and district attorneys.
Comey also said the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, case involving Trump should have moved faster.
“But I do think they overlearned some of the lessons from my own experience and from the Trump administration, and they were too slow. And it’s cost us, because we finally got a special counsel very late in the game and we’re stuck the way we are,” he said.
“I would have hoped they would have moved faster, but again, given when they came into office, what they were trying to accomplish, I get why they did it but I still think it was a mistake,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment.