- [observation, 2016] I was raised by great parents who taught me you don't care what other people think about you. In my business [as FBI Director] I have to and deeply do - that people have confidence that the system's not fixed, against black people, for rich people, for powerful people.
- [letter to FBI employees] We don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do, so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. At the same time however given we don't know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don't want to create a misleading impression.
- [on why he doesn't consider WikiLeaks to be a legitimate journalistic organization]It's an important question, because all of us care deeply about the First Amendment and the ability of a free press to get information about our work and publish it
- [on WikiLeaks] To my mind, it crosses a line when it moves from being about trying to educate a public and instead just becomes about intelligence porn, frankly just pushing out information about sources and methods without regard to interest, without regard to the First Amendment values that normally underlie press reporting and simply becomes a conduit for the Russian intelligence services or some other adversary of the United States just to push out information to damage the United States.
- [from his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, on President Donald Trump's tweet about the possibility that his conversations with him were recorded]Lordy, I hope there are tapes
- [from his testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, on meetings he had with President Donald Trump]I knew there might come a day when I might need a record of what happened, not only to defend myself but to protect the FBI
- I have learned that ethical leaders lead by seeing beyond the short-term, beyond the urgent, and take every action with a view toward lasting values. They might find their values in a religious tradition or a moral worldview or even an appreciation of history. But those values - like truth, integrity, and respect for others, to name just a few - serve as external reference points for ethical leaders to make decisions, especially hard decisions in which there is no easy or good option. Those values are more important than what may pass for prevailing wisdom or the groupthink of a tribe...Ethical leaders can mold a culture by their words and, more important, by their actions, because they are always being watched...A commitment to integrity and a higher loyalty to truth are what separate the ethical leader from those who just happen to occupy leadership roles.
- We are experiencing a dangerous time in our country, with a political environment where basic facts are disputed, fundamental truth is questioned, lying is normalized and unethical behavior is ignored, excused, or rewarded.
- [on reopening the Hillary Clinton emails investigation in October, 2016] Like many others, I was surprised when Donald Trump was elected president. I had assumed from media polling that Hillary Clinton was going to win. I have asked myself many times since if I was influenced by that assumption. I don't know. Certainly not consciously, but I would be a fool to say it couldn't have had an impact on me. It is entirely possible that, because I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be president, my concern about making her an illegitimate president by concealing the restarted investigation bore greater weight than it would have if the election appeared closer or if Donald Trump were ahead in all polls. But I don't know.
- [public statement, December 17, 2018] The President of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country...Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matters, the words of the president matter, and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?
- Our country is led by those who will lie about anything, backed by those who will believe anything, based on information from media sources that will say anything.
- Accomplished people lacking inner strength can't resist the compromises necessary to survive Mr. Trump and that adds up to something they will never recover from. It takes character like Mr. Mattis's to avoid the damage, because Mr. Trump eats your soul in small bites.
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