Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump Says No Summit Deal With Putin Over Ukraine War, Talks Were ‘Very Productive’

2 days ago

Madera County Man Arrested in Fatal Crash Case

2 days ago

Man Fleeing an Immigration Raid Dies After Running Onto LA Freeway

2 days ago

Kevin McCarthy, Redistricting Commission’s Popularity Stand in Newsom’s Way

2 days ago

California Man Safe After High-Tech Rescue From Behind Sequoia Waterfall

2 days ago

California Legislature’s Final Weeks Could Decide Delta Water Tunnel’s Fate

2 days ago

US Consumer Sentiment Weakens in August, Inflation Expectations Rise

2 days ago

Trump Names Rosner as Chair of Energy Regulator

3 days ago
Watchdog: Comey Violated FBI Policies in Handling of Memos
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
August 29, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump in the weeks before he was fired as director of the bureau, the Justice Department’s inspector general said Thursday.
The watchdog’s office said Comey broke FBI rules by giving one memo containing unclassified information to a friend with instructions to share the contents with a reporter. Comey also failed to notify the FBI after he was dismissed in May 2017 that he had retained some of the memos in a safe at home, the report said.
But the inspector general also concluded that none of the information shared with the reporter was classified.

Seven Memos Documenting Discussions with Trump

At issue are seven memos Comey wrote between January 2017 and April 2017 about conversations with Trump that Comey found unnerving or unusual. These include a dinner at which Comey says Trump asked him to pledge his loyalty to him and a private Oval Office meeting weeks later at which Comey says the president asked him to drop an FBI investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
One week after he was fired, Comey provided a copy of the memo about Flynn to Dan Richman, his personal lawyer and a friend, and instructed him to share the contents of it with a specific reporter from The New York Times.
Comey has said he wanted to make details of the conversation public in hopes of triggering the appointment of a special counsel to lead the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel one day after the story broke.
The inspector general’s office found Comey’s rationale lacking.
“Comey had several other lawful options available to him to advocate for the appointment of a Special Counsel, which he told us was his goal in making the disclosure,” the report says. “What was not permitted was the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

No Prosecution by Justice Department

The department has already decided not to prosecute Comey over the matter.
Richman declined to comment Thursday. But Comey noted on Twitter that the inspector general found no evidence that he or his lawyers had ever shared any classified information with the news media.
“I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a “sorry we lied about you” would be nice,” he wrote.
He also added: “And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me “going to jail” or being a “liar and a leaker”_ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

DON'T MISS

Hamas Rejects Israel’s Gaza Relocation Plan

DON'T MISS

Global Markets Face Shaky Week Ahead as US Pressure Mounts on Ukraine

DON'T MISS

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

DON'T MISS

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

DON'T MISS

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

DON'T MISS

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

DON'T MISS

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

DON'T MISS

Micky MaKenzie, Bold Pup With a Big Heart, Ready for a New Home

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Xi Told Him China Will Not Invade Taiwan While He Is US President

UP NEXT

Melania Trump Sends Letter to Putin About Abducted Children

UP NEXT

US Stops Visitor Visas for People From Gaza

UP NEXT

Washington Sues to Stop Federal Takeover of Police Department

UP NEXT

US Health Chief Kennedy Says No Plans for 2028 Presidential Run

UP NEXT

Redistricting Fight Continues as Texas Governor Abbott Calls New Special Legislative Session

UP NEXT

DOJ Sues California to End Enforcement of Emissions Standards for Trucks

UP NEXT

US Consumer Sentiment Weakens in August, Inflation Expectations Rise

UP NEXT

Trump Heads to ‘High Stakes’ Alaska Summit With Putin on Ukraine

UP NEXT

All National Guard Troops Sent to Washington Are Mobilized, Pentagon Says

UP NEXT

Trump: Journalists Should Be Allowed Into Gaza

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

2 hours ago

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

2 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

3 hours ago

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

9 hours ago

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

1 day ago

Micky MaKenzie, Bold Pup With a Big Heart, Ready for a New Home

1 day ago

Trump Says Xi Told Him China Will Not Invade Taiwan While He Is US President

1 day ago

Melania Trump Sends Letter to Putin About Abducted Children

1 day ago

Category 4 Hurricane Erin Continues to Intensify, NHC Says

1 day ago

US Stops Visitor Visas for People From Gaza

1 day ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine will visit the White House on Monday for a high-stakes meeting, after President Donald Trump backed...

2 hours ago

President Trump walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin as Putin arrives as Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, where the two leaders will hold a meetings to end the war in Ukraine, Friday, Aug, 15, 2025. The president of Ukraine and his European allies are to visit the White House on Monday, after President Trump backed Russia’s plan to end the war. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

Jordanian military personnel airdrop aid parcels over Gaza, August 17, 2025. (Reuters/Alaa Al Sukhni)
2 hours ago

Hamas Rejects Israel’s Gaza Relocation Plan

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, August 1, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Global Markets Face Shaky Week Ahead as US Pressure Mounts on Ukraine

A worker walks at the Hiziaz power station after it was attacked by Israeli missile strikes in Sanaa, Yemen August 17, 2025. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)
2 hours ago

Israel Says It Targeted Energy Infrastructure Site Used by Houthis Near Yemeni Capital

Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season and has been downgraded to Category 3, moves westward near Puerto Rico in a composite satellite image August 17, 2025. CIRA/NOAA/Handout via REUTERS
2 hours ago

Erin Downgraded to Category 3 Hurricane, NHC Says

Cast member Terence Stamp poses at the premiere of the movie "Valkyrie" at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles December 18, 2008. The movie opens in the U.S. on December 25. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

9 hours ago

What Can MLB Learn From the Savannah Bananas? A Lot, It Turns Out.

3D illustration, Symbolic image on the topic of division, exclusion
1 day ago

How Do We Bridge America’s New Segregation?

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend