FBI Director James Comey. (Getty)
Although FBI Director James Comey says he is no longer a “registered Republican,” he is a lifelong Republican whose has made campaign donations to the last two Republican presidential candidates.
Specifically, Comey gave money to Republican nominees John McCain and Mitt Romney when they were running for president. See the reports from the Federal Election Commission:
Source: Federal Election Commission
Comey’s wife, Patrice, also gave thousands of dollars to the Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan ticket:
Susan Brooks, who also received money from Patrice and James Comey, is a Republican congresswoman from Indiana.
Comey made the thousands of dollars in donations when he was general counsel for defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation and Bridgewater Associates, LP, a Connecticut investment firm. In September 2013, he was sworn in as FBI director, according to his official biography. He is also a former U.S. Attorney and deputy Attorney General.
Comey finds himself in the national hot seat after he sent a letter to Congress that revealed the FBI is investigating newly discovered emails to see whether they bear any significance to the agency’s past investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server.
The letter came out 11 days before the presidential election, leading some, including Clinton, to criticize Comey, who deviated from past Justice Department practice by releasing it right before an election. It’s also come out that the FBI didn’t actually have the emails at the time that Comey sent the letter to Congress; rather, the FBI was attempting to obtain a warrant from the Justice Department to get them.
Comey is a former Bush administration official who was nominated to his position by President Barack Obama. You can learn more about his politics here:
