Federal prosecutors
gathered evidence from James Comey's top lieutenants that he authorized
the leak of classified information to reporters just before the 2016
election but declined to bring criminal charges, according to recently
declassified memos that call into question the former FBI director's
testimony to Congress.
The bombshell revelations involving ex-FBI general counsel
James Baker and ex-Comey chief of staff James Rybicki were memorialized
in documents that FBI Director Kash Patel discovered earlier this year,
but the passages were originally redacted by the Justice Department in
versions sent to Congress earlier this month.
Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened and eliminated the
redactions, dispatching new versions of the memos this week to the House
and Senate Judiciary committees, officials told Just the News.
The memos detail evidence and interviews gathered by U.S.
Postal Inspection Service agents concerning classified information
leaked to The New York Times in October 2016, ahead of the November election in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"The USPIS Investigation also revealed Baker disclosed USG
[U.S. government] classified information to the NYT under the belief he
was ultimately instructed and authorized to do so by then FBI Director
James Comey," one summary memo reads. "For example, during interviews,
Baker indicated FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki instructed him (Baker)
to disclose the information to the NYT, and Baker understood Rybicki was
conveying this instruction and authorization from Comey."
The memos don't identify the specific pieces of classified
information that were leaked or whether Comey or anyone else was
authorized to declassify them for the media. But they were investigated
by multiple prosecutors, including the U.S. attorney's office in
Washington, D.C., under Trump's first administration and by
future-special prosecutor John Durham, and all declined to bring
criminal charges, the memos show.
Bondi told Just the News on Thursday she was committed to bringing accountability for the yet unpunished leaks.
“This document produced at my direction confirms what many
Americans have long suspected: former FBI Director James Comey and his
chief of staff engaged in abhorrent conduct," she said. "There must be
accountability for those who were entrusted with safeguarding our
nation’s secrets and failed to do so.”
Comey previously denied
during congressional testimony that he had ever been a source in news
articles related to the FBI’s investigations into Trump and Clinton and
further denied that he had ever approved of anyone else at the FBI being
such a source. He has long denied any wrongdoing and insisted he has
been politically attacked because he stood up to Trump.
Patel told Just the News the evidence he uncovered raised concerns that one of his predecessors may have authorized illegal leaks and lied about it.
"These newly declassified memos show how former FBI
leadership authorized classified leaks and withheld the truth from
Congress and the American people," he said. "Thanks to President Trump’s
commitment to transparency, the cover-up is being exposed. The public
deserves nothing less than full accountability."
You can read the declassified FBI memos here:
Declassified FBI Memos - Tropic Vortex Investigation - Baker, Rybicki, and Comey
A recent barrage of declassified documents showing Comey
and current Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., may have been behind national
security leaks over the last decade designed to harm Trump may prove
more than just an exercise in historical accountability.
Legal experts say the statute of limitations for
prosecution under espionage laws for leaks back in 2016 or 2017 can be
extended to 10 years if the act was knowing and willful and harmed
national security or was part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy that
continued into the last five years.
"The general federal statute of limitations is five years,
but espionage that harms our national interest is 10 years and covering
up the crime continues the conspiracy," explained Mike Davis, a former
top Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer who now runs the nonprofit Article
III Project on constitutional law.
"The Trump DOJ can open up a criminal probe that
investigates this malicious disclosure of classified information that
harms our national interest," he said.
Patel recently opened a criminal investigation examining
the last decade of U.S. intelligence abuses and political weaponization
as an ongoing criminal conspiracy stretching from the now-disgraced
Russia conclusion probe to the raid on Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago, Fla.
Bondi has created a strike force to examine the allegations
and authorized the use of grand juries, while one of her top deputies,
Harmeet Dhillon, told Just the News one of the crimes that could be charged is the deprivation of civil liberties under color of government authority.
There is also a question of whether Congress was obstructed by false statements and withheld documents.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa,
asked Comey in May 2017 whether he had “ever been an anonymous source
in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the
Clinton investigation.”
Comey replied, “Never.”
Grassley then asked whether Comey had “ever authorized
someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about
the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation.” Comey again
testified, “No.”
When asked whether any classified information
“relating to President Trump or his associates” had ever been
declassified and shared with journalists, Comey said, “Not to my
knowledge.”
“There have been a variety of leaks,” Comey also said at the time.
“Leaks are always a problem, but especially in the past three to six
months.”
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his personal book website.
Rybicki did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him by Just the News through his LinkedIn. Baker declined through his lawyer to comment.
The FBI memos show the Justice Department’s “Tropic Vortex”
classified leaks investigation initially focused on an unspecified
October 2016 article by the New York Times as well as an early March 2017 article by the Times written by reporters Michael Schmidt and Michael Shear and titled, “Comey Asks Justice Dept. to Reject Trump’s Wiretapping Claims.”
It is likely that the "October 2016 NYT Article" in question was a piece published
on Halloween that year written by journalists Eric Lichtblau and Steven
Lee Myers and titled, “Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear
Link to Russia.”
The FBI memos said that in late March 2017, then-acting
Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente directed then-Connecticut U.S.
Attorney John Durham to lead an investigation based on a criminal
referral from a redacted source “regarding an unauthorized public
disclosure of USG classified information.”
The memo said that such investigations are typically
conducted by the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division with oversight from
DOJ's National Security Division, but that “at least one of the subjects
of the investigation is a former senior FBI official who previously
worked in NSD,” and so, “to avoid a potential conflict of interest or an
appearance thereof,” Boente assigned the investigation to Durham and
the USPIS instead of NSD and the FBI.
The newly-declassified FBI document lifted a redaction that
showed that one of the previously-concealed criminal subjects was “FBI
general counsel James Baker.”
The FBI memo said that the “October 2016 NYT Article
indicated there were two USG sources for the article.” The newly-lifted
redactions show that the USPIS Investigation “revealed Baker to be one
of the two sources” and “also revealed Baker disclosed USG classified
information to the NYT under the belief he was ultimately instructed and
authorized to do so by then FBI Director James Comey.”
The newly-unredacted portion added that “Baker indicated
FBI chief of staff James Rybicki instructed him (Baker) to disclose the
information to the NYT, and Baker understood Rybicki was conveying this
instruction and authorization from Comey.”
The FBI memo said that by late December 2017, Durham and
USPIS “completed their investigation and provided a memorandum with
their conclusions and recommendations to Attorney General Jeff
Sessions.”
An FBI memo for a further media leak investigation is dated
mid-January 2019 and indicates that the FBI’s Counterintelligence
Division “received a draft memorandum” from the U.S. Attorney’s Office
in the nation’s capital regarding the aforementioned Durham-led
investigation.
The federal prosecutor “indicated the investigation may
contain information relevant to other FBI investigations of unauthorized
public disclosures, including, but not limited to” leak inquiries
dubbed Echos Fate, Foggy Falls, Genetic Christmas and Sirens Lure.
In response, an official, whose name is redacted, directed
the FBI’s Washington field office “to open a full investigation for the
purposes of reviewing the investigation and/or incorporating any
information relevant to these other investigations.”
The FBI field office issued a memo in late February 2020
indicating that the investigation had ended with the U.S. attorney’s
office in the nation’s capital declining to prosecute, but with the memo
providing further details about the failed investigation.
The memo said the Durham-led part of the inquiry had been
based on a “criminal referral” that had focused on the October 2016
article in the Times. Durham and USPIS “completed their
investigation” in mid-December 2018, and the “Durham Memo” sent to
then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker “recommended NO
prosecution of Baker or anyone else,” the newly-declassified portion of
the FBI record revealed.
The FBI’s Washington field office then picked up the investigation the next year.
“On April 8, 2019, WFO [Washington field office] completed a
review of the USPIS Investigation and USA Durham Memo, noted
significant findings therefrom… and provided them to the attorneys,
agents, and professional staff assigned to TROPIC VORTEX, ECHOS FATE,
FOGGY FALLS, GENETIC CHRISTMAS, and SIRENS LURE,” the FBI memo said,
with a newly-unredacted portion stating that the FBI field office “did
not identify any additional investigative leads regarding Baker or the
second [Redacted] source for the October 2016 NYT Article.”
The FBI field office “did identify one additional investigative lead” during their inquiry.
The memo cited an early-March 2017 tweet
from Trump in which he said: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had
my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found.
This is McCarthyism!”
The memo noted that, the next day, the Times published its aforementioned article on Comey asking DOJ to reject Trump’s allegation.
“The March 2017 NYT Article reported a USG official
indicated Comey asked the DOJ to publicly reject the assertions in
President Trump's tweets, but the DOJ had not released any such
statement. The tweets and article occurred shortly after the initiation
of the USPIS Investigation,” the FBI memo said.
“During interviews for the USPIS Investigation, multiple
DOJ and FBI officials were asked about their discussions, actions and
responses to the tweets and article. Although the officials provided
opinions on the identity of the USG official in the article, the USPIS
Investigation did not determine who it was," the memo stated.
The FBI’s Washington field office “compiled findings from
the USPIS Investigation regarding the tweets and the March 2017 NYT
Article, and from additional investigation by WFO” in late October 2019.
A newly-declassified portion of the memo said that “the findings
revealed Rybicki forwarded an email containing a proposed statement to
the news media regarding the tweets to his (Rybicki’s) presumed personal
email account.”
The newly-declassified part of the memo said that “the
proposed statement originated from Comey and appeared to be at the
UNCLASSIFIED level of classification” in the March 2017 article and that
the FBI field office “assessed Rybicki did so in furtherance of a
potentially unauthorized disclosure to the news media, which appeared to
be at the implicit direction of Comey.”
The newly-unredacted part of the FBI memo stated that
“based on the findings and assessment,” the U.S. attorney’s office in
the nation’s capital “issued a preservation letter for Rybicki’s
personal email account in furtherance of potential legal process” but
that federal prosecutors “subsequently declined to pursue additional
legal process as the proposed statement appeared to be UNCLASSIFIED.”
The now-unredacted part of the FBI memo said the FBI field
office “also prepared materials regarding the proposed statement for use
in a November 2019 interview with Rybicki” conducted by the federal
prosecutors and the bureau investigators in the nation’s capital, but
the U.S. Attorney’s Office “declined to use them” and so the FBI field
office “considers this additional investigative lead complete.”
The FBI memos stated that in late January 2020 the U.S.
Attorney’s Office in D.C. “issued a prosecutorial declination decision
for TROPIC VORTEX.”
The FBI launched more than half a dozen wide-ranging
investigations into leaks to the media as numerous legacy outlets
deployed the classified information to push false claims of Trump-Russia
collusion. But the bureau failed to hold anyone accountable for the
classified leaking, a Just the News investigation showed earlier this month.
The newly-declassified FBI memos detailed a host of failed
or botched classified leaks inquiries, with revelations from at least
seven leak inquiries contained within the bombshell documents first
obtained and now released by Just the News.
The FBI concluded that numerous news stories which
contributed to the false Russiagate narrative contained illegally leaked
classified intelligence, but bureau investigators repeatedly failed –
perhaps willingly – to definitively identify the leakers.
Despite these failures, Just the News revealed
earlier this month that FBI agents did force a stunning admission that
Comey used a special conduit to a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times writer in his bid to polish his image and push for a special prosecutor to take down Trump.
Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman admitted
to agents that he routinely communicated on behalf of Comey, his
longtime friend, with Times reporter Schmidt, whose work was
among the newspaper's Pulitzer-winning stories on the Russiagate saga.
The goal, Richman told the FBI, was "to correct stories critical” of
Comey and the FBI and to “shape future press coverage.”
Richman insisted he did not believe he had confirmed or
provided classified intelligence to reporters but said he could not be
100% certain, the memos state, noting he could only make his leak denial
“with a discount.”
The revelations about Comey and Richman were revealed as
part of an FBI classified-leak investigation dubbed Arctic Haze,
according to the declassified memos obtained by Just the News
earlier this month. The inquiry also did not result in any
prosecutions, although significant details about the investigation
remain redacted.
DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz wrote a report
released in August 2019 criticizing Comey’s decision to leak his
so-called “Comey Memos” – including details about Trump’s alleged
comments about Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn – to the media in 2017 in an effort
by the then-fired FBI director to spur the appointment of a special
counsel.
Horowitz wrote
that his investigation “interviewed 17 witnesses, including former
Director Comey and Daniel Richman, the individual who, at Comey's
request, shared the contents of one of the Memos with a reporter
[Schmidt] for The New York Times.” Comey told Horowitz that the day after being fired by Trump, he retained Richman as an attorney.
“We have previously faulted Comey for acting unilaterally
and inconsistent with Department policy,” the DOJ watchdog wrote.
“Comey’s unauthorized disclosure of sensitive law enforcement
information about the Flynn investigation merits similar criticism.”
Comey admitted in 2017 that he had hoped leaking this
information “might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”
Horowitz concluded Comey’s leaks were “an attempt to force the
Department to take official investigative actions.” Horowitz sent a
criminal referral to the DOJ over Comey’s memos at the time, but the DOJ
declined to prosecute.
Rybicki, as Comey’s chief of staff, and Baker, as the FBI’s
top lawyer, both played key roles in the FBI’s investigations into
Clinton’s mishandling of classified information and into baseless claims
of Trump-Russia collusion.
Horowitz’s August 2019 report on Comey’s mishandling of his memos
explained how the January 2017 Trump Tower meeting with
then-President-elect Trump wasn’t just about briefing Trump on the ICA.
Horowitz also laid out details showing Comey’s one-on-one meeting with
Trump after everyone else left wasn’t just about informing Trump of
allegations from Steele’s dossier, but was treated by Comey and the FBI
as a chance to gather information in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Horowitz wrote that the FBI was focused on “Trump’s
potential responses to being told about the ‘salacious’ information,
including that Trump might make statements about, or provide information
of value to, the pending Russian interference investigation.”
Comey wrote about the tower meeting immediately after, telling
Horowitz it should be treated like counterintelligence information, and
Comey had his team on standby to be told what he’d learned.
Beforehand, Comey had met with disgraced FBI Deputy
Director Andrew McCabe, Baker, Rybicki, and leaders of the Crossfire
Hurricane team. Some worried Comey’s meeting could be seen as a “Hoover-esque type of plot.”
Comey had a secure FBI laptop waiting in his FBI vehicle
after the tower meeting and “began typing [Memo 1] as the vehicle moved”
and worked on it until he got to the FBI’s New York field office, where
McCabe, Baker, Rybicki, and the team were waiting on a video
teleconference. Comey also sent the memo through the FBI’s classified
email to McCabe, Baker, and Rybicki the next day.
Comey classified the memo as secret because the information
“ought to be treated … [like] FISA derived information or information
in a [counterintelligence] investigation.” McCabe forwarded the memo to
former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who was having an affair with fired FBI
special agent Peter Strzok. Page said Comey sent it “to upload into the
case file” because it was “central to investigative activity.”
Horowitz previously revealed
in 2018 that there were “numerous instances in which Comey used a
personal email account (a Gmail account) to conduct FBI business.” When
asked if this practice was in line with DOJ regulations, Comey told
investigators, “I don’t know. I think so, but I don’t know. I remember
talking to Jim [Rybicki] about it at one time, and I had the sense that
it was okay.” Rybicki sent an email to the DOJ watchdog defending
Comey’s personal email practices.
Then-special counsel John Durham’s 2021 indictment
against Democratic cybersecurity lawyer Michael Sussmann centered on a
September 2016 meeting with Baker in which Sussmann passed along
debunked allegations claiming there was a secret back channel between
Russia’s Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization. Durham alleged that
Sussmann told the FBI general counsel that he was not working for any
specific client, but Durham said Sussmann was secretly doing the bidding
of Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Sussmann was acquitted after a two-week trial by a jury in the nation’s capital in 2022.
Declassified FBI records also show that since-convited FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith messaged
FBI lawyer Lisa Page that “we have the final draft of the DRAGON FISA”
on October 11, 2016 – using the “Crossfire Dragon” codename for Carter
Page.
Clinesmith and Page then strategized about how to get the FISA approved as quickly as possible.
Page said that “I can call Rybicki, ask him to check in with the D [the Director].”
Clinesmith replied, “If you think that’s acceptable, it
might be a good thing to do; that would help us get it to the FISC
[Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] more quickly.”
Declassified memos
from since-fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe say Baker played a
role in McCabe’s decision to announce an FBI investigation into Trump
after the president fired Comey in 2017.
When Comey was fired, “McCabe became convinced he had to
set the investigations on a course to move forward if he himself was
fired,” the notes state. The FBI said that “McCabe and others met
several times after the termination to discuss whether there was
predication to open an obstruction investigation on Trump … . McCabe
first wanted the team to look at the four or more open Russia
investigations at the time and to decide if there were others that
should be opened.
McCabe told Robert Mueller's special counsel team that he
and others talked about “the fact that, by investigating the Trump
campaign, they were, by definition, ‘sort of’ investigating Trump. As
such, they wondered whether it would be accurate to tell Trump he was
not under investigation.”
“The termination [of Comey] caused them to focus on whether
to take the next step and open a case on Trump himself and whether it
was necessary, given the existing investigation into the campaign,” the
FBI notes state. “McCabe’s intention was to make sure cases that needed
to be opened were opened and in doing so ensure the investigations had a
‘clear, un-erasable footprint’ in case he was fired the next day.”
The FBI notes state that McCabe “had discussions” with
Baker “regarding whether there was sufficient predication to open an
investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia and for
obstruction of justice for terminating Comey. After their discussions,
they decided to open an obstruction investigation.”
Baker has previously defended the flawed Trump-Russia investigation, including the FBI’s handling
of British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited dossier. He was
involved in the signoff process of at least the first Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant application that targeted former
Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Baker left the FBI in 2018 and went on to work with Lawfare,
a national security blog affiliated with the Brookings Institution,
whose editor-in-chief is Comey friend Benjamin Wittes. Baker then went
on to hold a high-level position at Twitter.
The New York Post reported in October 2020 that
emails from the laptop showed evidence of shady business dealings by the
son of President Joe Biden tied to Ukraine and China. When the
publication attempted to post the articles on its Twitter account, the
social media company said doing so violated its rule against sharing
“hacked” materials.
Baker, the now-former Twitter deputy general counsel,
defended his and Twitter’s actions related to the Hunter Biden laptop
censorship saga.
“I was not aware of and certainly did not engage in any
conspiracy or other effort to do anything unethical, improper, or
unlawful while I was at Twitter. Period,” Baker told the House in 2023.
“I did not act unlawfully or otherwise inappropriately in
any manner with respect to Hunter Biden’s laptop computer. … I am aware
of no unlawful collusion with, or direction from, any government agency
or political campaign on how Twitter should have handled the Hunter
Biden laptop situation.”
