XPost: alt.politics.org.fbi, alt.government.employees, talk.politics.guns XPost: sac.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

https://amgreatness.com/2025/08/13/declassified-fbi-memos-comey-used- lawyer-pal-as-media-conduit-in-multiple-strategic-leaks-to-damage-trump/

Newly declassified FBI memos reveal how extensively former FBI Director
James Comey used his longtime friend Daniel Richman as a secret media
conduit to strategically leak classified information to the media in 2016
and 2017 in an alleged effort to take down President Donald Trump.

FBI Director Kash Patel delivered a tranche of the Bureau’s internal memos
on leak investigations to Congress earlier this week.

The memos provide details on multiple classified leak investigations
involving Comey, including: Arctic Haze, Tropic Vortex, Foggy Falls,
Riding Hood, Sirens Lure, Echos Fate, and Genetic Christmas, Just the News reported.

The Department of Justice ultimately decided not to pursue criminal
charges against Comey or any potential co-conspirators despite the
evidence of leaks, saying it could not positively determine “who leaked
what and when,” according to the report.

Richman, a Columbia University law professor, admitted to agents in
interviews that he routinely communicated with Times reporter Michael
Schmidt on behalf of his pal, Comey. One of Schmitt’s RussiaGate reports
was among the newspaper’s 2018 Pulitzer-winning stories on the now-
debunked hoax.

According to the documents, “Comey instructed the FBI to hire Richman as a Special Government Employee (SGE)” in 2015 and “to grant him a Top Secret clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information” and that
“FBI records indicated Richman was hired to work on ‘Going Dark’ matters.”

The bureau said its investigation “revealed Comey also hired Richman so
Comey could discuss sensitive matters, including classified information,
with someone outside of the FBI’s regular leadership. Comey also used
Richman as a liaison to the media.”

Richman told the FBI that his objective was “to correct stories critical
of Comey, the FBI and to shape future press coverage” outside of the
bureau’s official press office to the media.

The investigation revealed that Richman had been a source for Schmidt and
The New York Times “since at least 2008.”

While Richman was known to have been publicly quoted in news stories as an advocate for Comey, he admitted to agents — who were part of the FBI’s
Arctic Haze classified leaks inquiry — that he was given access by Comey
to what turned out to be highly classified information up to the SCI level
and sometimes provided information to reporters on an anonymous basis.

Richman insisted he did not believe he had confirmed or provided
classified intelligence to reporters but said he could not be 100 percent,
the memos state, noting he could only make his leak denial “with a
discount.”

“Richman was pretty sure he did not confirm the Classified Information. However, Richman told the interviewing agents he was sure ‘with a
discount’ that he did not tell Schmidt about the Classified Information,”
one FBI memo stated.

The FBI leak investigation code-named “Arctic Haze” examined four news articles—two in the Washington Post, one in the NYT, and one in the Wall
Street Journal— which contained leaked classified information.

The Tropic Vortex classified leaks investigation focused on an unspecified October 2016 article in the NYT, as well as an early March 2017 article
written by Times reporters Schmidt and Michael Shear and titled, “Comey
Asks Justice Dept. to Reject Trump’s Wiretapping Claims.”

The Bureau’s Foggy Falls inquiry focused on a WaPo article by three reporters—Ellen Nakashima, Devlin Barrett, and Adam Entous—from mid-April
2017 titled: “FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor former Trump adviser
Carter Page.”

The FBI’s Riding Hood investigation focused on a Buzzfeed News article
from early April 2017 written by Ali Watkins and titled, “A Former Trump Adviser Met With A Russian Spy.”

The FBI speculated that the classified information in that article may
have informed a mid-April 2017 story by the Washington Post written by
three reporters — Ellen Nakashima, Devlin Barrett, and Adam Entous — and titled, “FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page.”

The FBI’s Sirens Lure classified inquiry focused on three WaPo stories:

The first was one by four reporters — Matt Zapotosky, Sari Horwitz, Devlin Barrett, and Adam Entous — from late May 2017 titled, “Jared Kushner Now a Focus in Russia Investigation.” The second was an article by three
reporters — Ellen Nakashima, Adam Entous, and Greg Miller — from late May
2017 titled, “Russian Ambassador Told Moscow that Kushner Wanted Secret Communications Channel with Kremlin.” The third was a piece by four
reporters — David Filipov, Amy Brittain, Rosalind Helderman, and Tom
Hamburger — from early June 2017 titled, “Explanations for Kushner’s
Meeting with Head of Kremlin-linked Bank Don’t Match Up.”

The Echos Fate classified leaks investigation examined two Washington Post articles: a January 2017 story by David Ignatius originally titled “Four burning questions on Russia” which was retitled “Why did Obama dawdle on Russia’s hacking?” and a February 2017 story by Greg Miller, Adam Entous,
and Ellen Nakashimam titled, “Officials Say Flynn Discussed Sanctions.”

The FBI’s Genetic Christmas classified leaks probe focused on an December
2016 NBC News article written by William Arkin, Ken Dilanian, and Cynthia McFadden, titled: “U.S. Officials: Putin Personally Involved in U.S.
Election Hack.”

In August 2019, the inspector general for the Department of Justice
released a report on the infamous “Comey memos,” which were leaked to the
media after Comey was fired in May, 2017.

The published memos, which included details about a private meeting
between Trump and the former director, prompted then-Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein to appoint Robert Mueller as special counsel the
next day, roiling the first three years of Trump’s first term in office.
After an extensive two year investigation, Mueller and his team of
Democrat deputies were unable to “establish” any criminal Trump-Russia collusion.

The disgraced former director testified to congress under oath on May 9,
2017, that the memos were his own personal property, even though he had prepared the records on government computers, on government time, as part
of his formal governmental duties.

The OIG determined that the records he leaked were indeed government
property and that he violated multiple policies and potentially even
federal law in leaking them.

The office found that Comey had “violated applicable policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by providing one of the unclassified memos that
contained official FBI information, including sensitive investigative information, to his friend with instructions for the friend to share the contents of the memo with a reporter.”

Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that the former G-Man had
leaked “sensitive” government records and violated DOJ rules, setting “a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees—and the many thousands more former FBI employees—who similarly have access to or
knowledge of non-public information.”

“The responsibility to protect sensitive law enforcement information falls
in large part to the employees of the FBI who have access to it through
their daily duties,” the OIG report found. “Former Director Comey failed
to live up to this responsibility.”

Comey told the OIG that the day after being terminated by Trump, he
retained Richman as an attorney.

“We have previously faulted Comey for acting unilaterally and inconsistent
with Department policy,” Horowitz wrote. “Comey’s unauthorized disclosure
of sensitive law enforcement information about the Flynn investigation
merits similar criticism.”

Comey later admitted that he had hoped leaking the information “might
prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” Horowitz concluded that the
leaks were “an attempt to force the Department to take official
investigative actions.”

“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,” Horowitz wrote. “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.”

The findings of the probe were forwarded to the Justice Department, but
the department declined prosecution, reportedly because they didn’t think
they had enough evidence to prove that Comey intended to violate the law.

According to the Hill, the DOJ did not want to “make its first case
against the Russia investigators with such thin margins and look petty and vindictive.”

https://youtu.be/uVHNSJ9MXjE


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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