‘I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job.’ – President Trump, to Russian officials visiting him in the Oval Office in 2017

James Comey is the former director of the FBI who is disliked by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in equal measure. His decision to investigate Clinton’s personal email server during the 2016 presidential election campaign is viewed by her supporters as a decisive factor in her losing the race to Donald Trump. But Trump is no fan of Comey either. In 2017 a seething President Trump summoned Comey to a meeting in the Oval Office where he pressured him to deny that Trump and his entourage were under investigation for collusion with Russia. Comey refused to give information to Trump and was fired from the FBI in May 2017.

In June 2023 Comey came to the Intelligence Squared stage, where in conversation with acclaimed satirist and screenwriter Armando Iannucci he will discuss crime, punishment and accountability at the highest echelons of politics. Drawing on his personal experiences and with reference to his new crime novel Central Park West, Comey will reveal the detective work, backdoor dealings and tradecraft involved in FBI and Department of Justice attempts to build legal cases against criminals and political figures.