Notes and memos that fired FBI Director James B. Comey wrote about his private meetings with President Trump and then passed to a law professor in New York to leak to the media are now in the FBI’s possession, ABC News reported Tuesday.
During Mr. Comey’s testimony last week to the Senate Intelligence committee’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling, he discussed his experience as an anonymous leaker.
Mr. Comey said that a portion of the memos he wrote about a series of tense meetings he held with Mr. Trump went to a law professor friend at Columbia University, whom Mr. Comey used to funnel the memos to the press. The New York Times ultimately reported on a portion of the material.
ABC News reported Tuesday on its official Twitter feed that the FBI now has the memos.
Mr. Comey testified that he thought press coverage “might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.”
At the time, Mr. Comey didn’t name the professor. Media reports later confirmed the go-between was Daniel Richman.
Mr. Comey’s testimony was one of the most anticipated Capitol Hill confrontations in years. His critics charge that his calculated formulation and leak of the memos through a third party suggest his actions were part of a deliberate and vendetta-driven plot — crossing dangerous lines regarding the classification of government documents and FBI conduct.
He and Mr. Trump have dramatically differing accounts of the several private meetings they held before Mr. Comey’s firing.
Mr. Trump has consistently dismissed the Russia investigation as a “hoax” and “witch hunt.”
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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