A day after the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, officers with the Justice Division had been nonetheless providing few particulars about their case — however sources stated Friday that one of many two counts within the indictment focuses on his alleged function 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, includes Comey’s alleged function in having his shut buddy and former private lawyer, Daniel Richman, present info to reporters about an FBI probe related to Clinton, sources instructed ABC Information.
Within the indictment, Depend 1 says that Comey “willfully and knowingly” lied when, testifying underneath 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 related 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 in truth had licensed PERSON 3 to function an nameless supply in information experiences concerning [the] FBI investigation,” the indictment reads.
Sources instructed ABC Information that “PERSON 1” is Clinton and “PERSON 3” is Richman, a longtime regulation professor who — as ABC Information beforehand 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 regarding the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded underneath 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 underneath oath, ‘No,'” Cruz stated.
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 through Getty Photographs
“Now, as you recognize, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly acknowledged that he leaked info to the Wall Road Journal and that you simply had been instantly conscious of it and that you simply instantly licensed it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee can not each be true. One or the opposite is fake. Who’s telling the reality?” Cruz requested.
“I can solely communicate to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in Could of 2017,” Comey responded.
“So your testimony is you’ve got by no means licensed anybody to leak? And Mr. McCabe, if he says opposite, just isn’t telling the reality, is that right?” requested Cruz.
“Once more, I am not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, however mine is identical in the present day,” Comey replied.
Concerning the query of whether or not Richman may very well 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, in keeping with publicly out there FBI and Justice Division paperwork.
His work with the FBI largely targeted 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 info from a number of the memos with a New York Occasions reporter.
Talking later with federal investigators, Richman stated he did not share categorized info 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,” in keeping with a report from the Justice Division’s inspector basic.
Richman didn’t reply to ABC Information’ request for touch upon Friday.
