A day after the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, officers with the Justice Division have been nonetheless providing few particulars about their case — however sources mentioned Friday that one of many two counts within the indictment focuses on his alleged position within the sharing of details about an FBI investigation associated to Hillary Clinton.
Depend 1 of the indictment, which prices Comey with making false statements to Congress, entails Comey’s alleged position in having his shut pal and former private lawyer, Daniel Richman, present info to reporters about an FBI probe linked to Clinton, sources instructed ABC Information.
Within the indictment, Depend 1 says that Comey “willfully and knowingly” lied when, testifying beneath oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020, he reaffirmed earlier Senate testimony insisting that he by no means “licensed another person on the FBI to be an nameless supply in information experiences” about an investigation linked to somebody solely recognized as “PERSON 1.”
“That assertion was false, as a result of, as JAMES B. COMEY JR. then and there knew, he actually had licensed PERSON 3 to function an nameless supply in information experiences relating to [the] FBI investigation,” the indictment reads.
Sources instructed ABC Information that “PERSON 1” is Clinton and “PERSON 3” is Richman, a longtime legislation professor who — as ABC Information previously reported — met with federal prosecutors final week after being subpoenaed within the matter.
It is unclear precisely which information experiences are referred to within the indictment.
The testimony Comey gave that’s referenced within the indictment occurred when he was being questioned by Sen. Ted Cruz.
“On Could 3, 2017, on this committee, Chairman Grassley requested you level clean, ‘Have you ever ever been an nameless supply in information experiences about issues referring to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded beneath oath, ‘By no means.’ He then requested you, ‘Have you ever ever licensed another person on the FBI to be an nameless supply in information experiences concerning the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?’ You responded once more beneath oath, ‘No,'” Cruz mentioned.
Former FBI director James Comey is sworn in throughout a listening to earlier than the Senate Choose Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
“Now, as you already know, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly said that he leaked info to the Wall Avenue Journal and that you just have been straight conscious of it and that you just straight licensed it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee can’t each be true. One or the opposite is fake. Who’s telling the reality?” Cruz requested.
“I can solely converse to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in Could of 2017,” Comey responded.
“So your testimony is you have by no means licensed anybody to leak? And Mr. McCabe, if he says opposite, isn’t telling the reality, is that right?” requested Cruz.
“Once more, I am not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, however mine is similar at this time,” Comey replied.
Relating to the query of whether or not Richman could possibly be thought of “another person on the FBI,” Richman served as an unpaid “Particular Authorities Worker” throughout Comey’s final two years on the FBI, based on publicly out there FBI and Justice Division paperwork.
His work with the FBI largely centered on selling lawful entry to encrypted telephones, and — as Comey himself later instructed federal investigators in an unrelated matter — Richman was “on-site on the FBI loads” throughout that point.
Richman gained notoriety in 2017, when Comey publicly admitted to offering him with memos that documented conferences with Trump throughout Trump’s first time period and asking him to share information from among the memos with a New York Occasions reporter.
Talking later with federal investigators, Richman mentioned he didn’t share classified information with reporters and that, as he noticed it, he was serving to Comey “get info out that … was unclassified, unprivileged,” and “of huge nationwide significance,” based on a report from the Justice Division’s inspector basic.
Richman didn’t reply to ABC Information’ request for touch upon Friday.
