The Comey Rule (TV Mini Series)

Night One (2020)

Jeff Daniels: James Comey

Photos 

Quotes 

• Barack Obama : You know, uh... if you were to get this job, conversations like this would be impossible. The president and the FBI director, uh... have to be at arm's length. One day, uh, you might be called upon to investigate something someone in my party may have done or someone on my staff or...

  James Comey : You.

  Barack Obama : Well, for those investigations to be credible, well, we cannot be close.

  James Comey : Mr. President, I hope I can look forward to years of not being close with you.

• Claire Comey : Mom, you can breathe. She's gonna win.

  Patrice Comey : You don't know that.

  Claire Comey : Who's gonna beat her?

  Patrice Comey : Trump.

  Claire Comey : Trump? He's an idiot.

  Patrice Comey : But he's a man. And male voters are gender-loyal in a way that women aren't. And he isn't being investigated by anyone.

  Claire Comey : Yeah. What's up with that, Dad?

  James Comey : If you broke the law, wouldn't you want to know?

  Claire Comey : No, not really.

  Patrice Comey : Me, neither.

• Bob the Prosecutor : Every document or device we have requested, we're going to get.

  James Comey : Her attorneys are only going to be as helpful as you push them to be.

  Bob the Prosecutor : We're trying to be careful.

  James Comey : Can you be careful faster?

• John Giacalone : Mark, we got an I.G. referral on Clinton and her e-mails. We're gonna have to open a case.

  Mark Giuliano : Say more.

  [cut to him entering Comey's office] 

  Mark Giuliano : Boss.

  James Comey : What's up?

  Mark Giuliano : Got a referral from the intel I.G. about Secretary Clinton's e-mails. We're gonna have to open a case.

  James Comey : Say more.

• Mark Giuliano : Russia. Some anomalous behavior concerning the election.

  James Comey : What kind of anomalous behavior?

  Mark Giuliano : We think they're trying to sabotage Secretary Clinton's campaign.

  James Comey : How?

  Mark Giuliano : Ever spend much time on Facebook?

• James Comey : The Bureau's been getting bombarded with questions about whether or not we're investigating Secretary Clinton. It's starting to feel silly to keep issuing a "no comment." People are openly talking about it in the press, and even Secretary Clinton herself has referred to it. So I'd like your permission, i-if asked, to acknowledge it with "we don't comment on investigations."

  Loretta Lynch : [considering it]  Fine. But I think it would be better to refer to it as a "matter."

  James Comey : Why would we do that?

  Loretta Lynch : Because we don't comment on investigations.

  James Comey : But if we're trying to establish that we're treating this like any other case, wouldn't it be helpful to use the same language we'd use on any other case?

  Loretta Lynch : I'm trying to thread the needle here. I think "matter" does that.

  James Comey : Okay. We can make that work.

• James Comey : [in line at the FBI cafeteria]  What do you do here?

  Man Behind Him : Hmm? Uh, computer tech, Counterintel.

  James Comey : What were you before? What-what called you here?

  Man Behind Him : I worked for Monsanto. Hated it. What do you do here?

  James Comey : I'm the director.

  Man Behind Him : Oh, yeah? The director of what?

• Robert Mueller : All the field offices regard us with some suspicion. New York gripes the most. They think they're their own Bureau.

  James Comey : How have you handled that, generally?

  Robert Mueller : I tell them "If you're not happy, leave. There's plenty of people that want your job." You can't run this place if you mind being resented.

• James Comey : Shouldn't we discuss what you're signing?

  Robert Mueller : What for?

  James Comey : That's a senior executive who's going to be reporting to me in a week. Can I know who he is and why you're promoting...

  Robert Mueller : [throwing the paper at him]  You want it, take it.

  James Comey : [trying to catch it and dropping it]  I don't want it, I just wanted to discuss it.

  Robert Mueller : A word of advice, Jim. If you've been doing this for ten years, and a president asks you to stay on for another two, say no.

• Barack Obama : What else do I need to know about you, Jim? What do you... what do you think your weaknesses are?

  James Comey : Well... um, sometimes I can be impulsive and... convince myself I'm being decisive.

  Barack Obama : Well, how's your health? Any recurrence?

  James Comey : None, sir. Clean scans for seven years now.

  Barack Obama : Hmm. Because, uh, there's no pressure in any private sector job equivalent to the burden of national security.

  James Comey : That's understood.

  Barack Obama : The director can be a whipping boy for Congress. And you certainly wouldn't make what the private sector can pay you. Given all that, why would you want to come back to government?

  James Comey : When I was, uh, 16... a man in a knit cap broke into our house and put a gun to my kid brother's head. He said, "You move, and I will blow his head off." The guy had been terrorizing our neighborhood for months. They called him the Ramsey Rapist. I showed him where my parents kept their few valuables and begged him not to kill us. For some reason, he didn't. Just locked us in the basement and left. I slept with a butcher knife in my bed for years. The guy was never caught, so I had this... "what if" tape in my head. "What if he comes back? What if my sister is home when he does?" I'd been... powerless. Money is nice. Stopping bad guys is better.

• George Toscas : Every day, I hear from another disgruntled member of the Midyear Exam team. And every call has this assumption under it. That somehow Justice isn't engaged here.

  Mark Giuliano : If you want those calls to stop, stop slow-walking everything.

  George Toscas : Listen, Mark...

  Sally Yates : In a case this high-profile, there are bound to be tensions.

  James Comey : Sally, my team feels their investigation is being impeded.

  George Toscas : And my team feels their work is being second-guessed.

  James Comey : Our strong consensus is that Secretary Clinton's attorneys have not been operating in good faith with this investigation, that they're being allowed to obfuscate by the line prosecutors here at Justice.

  Bob the Prosecutor : You think I'm not doing my job, Jim? You think I'm getting played?

  James Comey : I think you're risk-averse, Bob.

  Mark Giuliano : Crying in your office doesn't help.

• Andrew McCabe : There's been a cyber breach of the Democratic National Committee. Looks like the hack went all the way up to Podesta.

  James Comey : Foreign actors or domestic?

  Andrew McCabe : Malware led us to a string of code that we've seen before... emanating from Russia.

  James Comey : [sighing]  All right, let's start recruiting sources. Find out more. What the hell are they up to?

• Barack Obama : Avisor of mine says you were a... an outstanding deputy A.G.

  James Comey : Thank you.

  Barack Obama : He also says you can be self-righteous and, uh, morally superior.

  James Comey : Your advisor sounds like an excellent judge of character.

• Barack Obama : So... why... should I hire you to run the Bureau? Why shouldn't I pick, say... oh, someone who supports my criminal justice reform initiative?

  James Comey : Uh, you could, Mr. President, and that's an issue on which reasonable people can disagree. But I believe stiffer sentencing laws have, on the whole, made the country safer. A lot of Americans aren't dead today because the guys who might have killed them were locked up.

  Barack Obama : Well, still, it might be easier for me to have an FBI director who agrees with me.

  James Comey : Well, that's true, but... you've always struck me as one of those leaders who gains just as much from thoughtful disagreement.

  Barack Obama : Hmm. You garnered a lot of attention for, uh, well, taking on the mob as prosecutor and defending the DOJ in '04.

  James Comey : I suppose that's true.

  Barack Obama : Do you need a lot of attention?

  James Comey : That's not a huge driver for me.

  Barack Obama : No, uh, interest in politics down the line?

  James Comey : None.

  Barack Obama : Good. Politicians are awful.