DOJ won’t prosecute Comey for leaking Trump memos
August 1, 2019 in News by RBN Staff
Source: WND
Declines referral from Inspector General Michael Horowitz
Former FBI Director James Comey interviewed by the Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier April 26, 2018.
The Justice Department has decided not to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for leaking classified information in memos of his interactions with President Trump, according to a source who spoke to Fox News.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz had referred Comey for potential prosecution.
“Everyone at the DOJ involved in the decision said it wasn’t a close call,” an official told Fox News. “They all thought this could not be prosecuted.”
Comey wrote memos of his meetings with President Trump prior to his firing. He then passed them to a friend who gave them to the New York Times.
Fox News reported that one of the reasons the DOJ declined prosecution was that the memos labeled “confidential” were given that designation after the fact.
The inspector general report related to Comey’s leaks is separate from Horowitz’s review of alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses.
The report on FISA abuses, essentially a review of the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia collusion investigation, has been delayed due to a criminal probe of the matter by Attorney General Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham.
WND reported former U.S. attorney general Joseph diGenova has pointed out that Durham is conducting a criminal investigation with a federal grand jury of senior former Obama administration officials.
Further, DiGenova has said, Durham’s criminal probe has prompted FBI officials and others to ask Horowitz’s team to re-interview them so they can “correct their testimony.”
‘I always thought of it as mine’
In an interview last year with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Comey said he did not consider the sharing of the memos a leak of classified information.
“I didn’t consider it part of an FBI file,” Comey said. “It was my personal aide-memoire. … I always thought of it as mine.”
Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2017 that he sought to memorialize his interactions with the president in a way that would not trigger security classification.
However, in seven memos handed over to Congress, eight of the 15 pages had redactions under classified exceptions.
The former FBI director testified that he deliberately leaked a memo to prompt the appointment of a special counsel.
The New York Times published a report on Comey’s memos on May 16, 2017. The memos indicated Trump asked Comey to shut down the probe of national security adviser Michael Flynn.
One day later, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to lead the investigation of alleged Trump-Russia collusion.
WND reported Wednesday that Judicial Watch has obtained FBI records showing that shortly after Comey was fired, agents visited his home and collected four of the memos of his interactions with Trump.
Judicial Watch noted the Justice Department previously argued to the court in a separate case that Comey’s leak of the memo regarding Flynn was unauthorized, comparing it to the activities of Wikileaks.
