Comey’s Law Professor Friend Says He Turned Over Copies Of Memos To FBI

Former FBI Director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Former FBI director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 8, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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A friend of former FBI director James Comey has given the bureau copies of memos the ousted intelligence official wrote to document his private conversations with President Donald Trump, Politico reported Tuesday.

According to the report, Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman turned over Comey’s meticulously detailed notes directly to the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is overseeing the wide-ranging probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, including potential obstruction of justice.

Comey testified last week that he asked Richman to provide summaries of some of the memos to reporters out of concern that Trump would “lie” about the nature of their one-on-one interactions. Under oath, Comey said that Trump asked him to swear “loyalty” and to quash an investigation into ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn. He testified that he believes his firing was a direct result of his handling of the Russia investigation, and said that he passed along the memos with the hope that they would prompt the appointment of a special counsel.

Trump seized on those remarks to label Comey a “leaker” who acted in a “cowardly” and possibly “illegal” manner to get his side of the story out to the media. As many observers have pointed out, Trump had already fired Comey when he shared the memos and they did not include classified information, giving the ousted FBI director free range to share them.

The Senate and House Intelligence Committees, Senate Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee have all requested copies of Comey’s memos, per Politico.

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