James Comey CNN town hall

By Veronica Rocha and Brian Ries, CNN

Updated 9:28 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019
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8:36 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey on 2020 election: "You cannot have a president who's a chronic liar"

Former FBI Director James Comey should consider President Trump's character when their voting for the country's next president.

"To my mind, this question at the top level is so obviously answered, you cannot have a president who's a chronic liar. I don't care what your passions around tax cuts or regulation or immigration. I respect difference there," he said.

Comey continued:

"The President of the United States cannot be someone who lies constantly. I thought Republicans agreed with that. It's one of the reasons I'm no longer a Republican. I hope the American people will realize we have to start at that values level no matter what our political background and answer that question first. And if that's a close question in an election, then get to the important policy differences."

8:28 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey says DOJ should "take a serious look" at charging Trump when he's no longer president

Asked if he thinks President Trump should be charged based on evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller's report, former FBI Director James Comey said the Department of Justice should "take a serious look at that.

"I think the Justice Department will have to take a serious look at that. Whether it's a wise thing to do to a former president, I don't know. That's a harder question, a much bigger question than the facts of the case."

CNN's Anderson Cooper went on to ask if he through there was enough evidence to prosecute Trump.

Comey said: "Sure looks like it's there with respect to at least a couple of those episodes of obstruction."

8:32 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey: "It sure looks like" Trump obstructed justice

Former FBI Director James Comey says he believes there is a chargeable case for obstruction and witness tampering against President Trump, based on what he saw in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

Asked if Trump showed "corrupt intent," Comey said he thought so.

"It sure looks like he did in connection with a couple of episodes," the former FBI director said, citing Trump directing Former White House Counsel Don McGahn to get rid of Mueller. He called that a "flaming example."

He added that, without a doubt, he agreed with the 800 former federal prosecutors who  signed a statement saying that Mueller's findings would have produced obstruction charges against President Trump -- if he weren't president.

"No doubt," Comey said.

8:28 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey says he accepts the Mueller report's conclusions

Asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper if James Comey accepts President Trump's assertions that special counsel Robert Mueller's report found no collusion. "Is that something you accept?" Cooper asked.

Comey responded, "Well, that's actually not what the report says."

"He found there was not sufficient evidence to charge a conspiracy between Americans and the Russian effort. That strikes me as a reasonable conclusion, and I accept it," he said.

8:22 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey: Nothing in the Mueller report surprised me

James Comey said nothing in special counsel Robert Mueller's report surprised him.

"There were a lot of facts in the Mueller report that I didn't know, but I knew it would be high quality work if we got a chance as a country to read it. And what he describes about Russia's intervention in our election didn't surprise me at all. It confirmed what I knew from when I was at the [FBI]. And what he lied out about -- the President's efforts to obstruct justice was broader in scope than I personally knew, but given what I had seen, it didn't surprise me, honestly," he said.

Comey added that he believes Mueller got everything about him right.

8:14 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey on his relationship with Robert Mueller: I respect him, but he's not "in love" with me

CNN's Anderson Cooper, citing President Trump, asked if James Comey believed special counsel Robert Mueller was "in love" with him.

Anderson Cooper: "Is Mueller in love with you?"

James Comey: "I respect him. I don't think we have that kind of relationship."

Cooper: "You just want to be friends with him."

Comey: "He's certainly not obsessed with me in the way some others seem to be."

8:18 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Comey describes the moment he learned he was fired: "I was numb"

Former FBI Director James Comey said he was talking to staff about the importance of the FBI's mission when he found it was fired -- from the television in the room.

"I was numb because I didn't expect to be fired," he said.

Comey said he thought it was a prank.

"I knew by that point the President didn't like me, but I thought that's OK because that will keep a separation. So it still feels a little bit numbing, frankly, like it happened yesterday and a lifetime ago," he said.

After learning that he was fired from the news, Comey shook hands with his staff and called his wife. She said his kids saw it "all over the internet."

"And then with the help of my assistant in Washington, I figured out a guy was actually down knocking on the door of the FBI in Pennsylvania saying he had a letter for me from the President that I was fired. Long before I got the letter the media was told. That's how it happened," he said.

8:02 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

NOW: James Comey takes stage for CNN town hall

It's two years to the date since President Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey -- and he's here to talk about that day and everything that's happened since.

Who's asking the questions: The audience is made up of students and professionals from more than a dozen states living in the D.C. area, and their questions are all their own.

Our CNN town hall starts now.

Watch it live in the video player above (refresh if you don't see it), on CNNGo or CNN on your TV.

7:46 p.m. ET, May 9, 2019

Here are 7 things to know about James Comey

From CNN's Gregory Krieg

Former FBI Director James Comey is an unlikely candidate to take center stage in the most charged political drama of this generation, but history shows he has a tendency to turn up in the headlines.

Here are some them:

  • He delivered an unprecedented "October Surprise" in the 2016 election. He announced — less than two weeks before the presidential election — that the bureau would investigate more emails potentially related to Hillary Clinton's private server.
  • Comey opposed Bush White House officials in a dramatic standoff. When then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was hospitalized in 2004, Bush officials rushed to his side in an effort to have him sign off on an extension to the wiretapping program, which Justice Department attorneys had deemed illegal, according to Comey's account. The weakened Ashcroft managed to make clear his refusal and Gonzales and Card left the room -- with Comey, then Ashcroft's top deputy, watching on -- without a word.
  • He prosecuted Martha Stewart. Comey brought a series of charges against Stewart in 2003 in connection with a dodgy 2000 stock deal. She was ultimately convicted and sentenced to five months in prison.
  • He'd investigated the Clintons previously. Their first run-in came in the mid-1990s, when Comey joined the Senate Whitewater Committee as a deputy special counsel. In 2002, Comey, then a federal prosecutor, took over an investigation into President Bill Clinton's 2001 pardon of financier Marc Rich, who had been indicted on a laundry list of charges before fleeing the country
  • Comey was locked up and held at gunpoint. In October 1977, he and his younger brother were held captive in their home by the so-called "Ramsey Rapist."
  • He was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate in 2013. Comey became the seventh FBI director when he was confirmed by the Senate on July 29, 2013, by a 93-1 count, with Sen. Rand Paul the lone holdout. He succeeded Robert Mueller III.
  • Comey was a registered Republican for many years. In testimony on Capitol Hill, he insisted that his FBI is "resolutely apolitical." Comey himself, however, does have a partisan past — as a Republican.