One of the most interesting new disclosures today in the Comey hearing was the admission by former FBI Director James Comey that he intentionally used a “friend” on the Columbia law faculty to leak his memos to the media. Comey says that he did so to force the appointment of a Special Counsel. However, those memos could be viewed as a government record and potential evidence in a criminal investigation.
Notably, Columbia Law School Professor Daniel Richman on a faculty webpage reads that he is “currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey.” Richman specializes in criminal law and criminal procedure.
The problem is that Comey’s description of his use of an FBI computer to create memoranda to file suggests that these are arguably government documents. Comey admitted that he thought he raised the issue with his staff and recognized that they might be needed by the Department or Congress. They read like a type of field 302 form, which are core investigatory documents.
The admission of leaking the memos is problematic given the overall controversy involving leakers undermining the Administration. Indeed, it creates a curious scene of a former director leaking material against the President after the President repeatedly asked him to crack down on leakers.
Besides being subject to Nondisclosure Agreements, Comey falls under federal laws governing the disclosure of classified and nonclassified information. Assuming that the memos were not classified (though it seems odd that it would not be classified even on the confidential level), there is 18 U.S.C. § 641 which makes it a crime to steal, sell, or convey “any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof.”
There are also ethical and departmental rules against the use of material to damage a former represented person or individual or firm related to prior representation. The FBI website states:
Dissemination of FBI information is made strictly in accordance with provisions of the Privacy Act; Title 5, United States Code, Section 552a; FBI policy and procedures regarding discretionary release of information in accordance with the Privacy Act; and other applicable federal orders and directives.”
Lawyers generally ask for clients or employers to release information, particularly when it may be detrimental to the firm or the client or someone associated with your prior representation.
By the way, waking up in the middle of the night (as described by Comey) is not generally the best time to decide to leak damaging memos against a sitting president. There are times when coffee and a full night’s sleep (and even conferral with counsel) is recommended. Leaking damaging memos is one of those times. Moreover, if Comey was sure of his right to release the memo, why use a law professor to avoid fingerprints?
I find Comey’s admission to be deeply troubling from a professional and ethical standpoint. Would Director Comey have approved such a rule for FBI agents? Thus, an agent can prepare a memo during office hours on an FBI computer about a meeting related to his service . . . but leak that memo to the media. The Justice Department has long defined what constitutes government documents broadly. It is not clear if Comey had the documents reviewed for classification at the confidential level or confirmed that they would be treated as entirely private property. What is clear is that he did not clear the release of the memos with anyone in the government.
Comey’s statement of a good motivation does not negate the concerns over his chosen means of a leak. Moreover, the timing of the leak most clearly benefited Comey not the cause of a Special Counsel. It was clear at that time that a Special Counsel was likely. More importantly, Comey clearly understood that these memos would be sought. That leads inevitably to the question of both motivation as well as means.
What do you think?
President Trump – elected by the People.
Robert Mueller – elected by the shadow government, ruling class “deep state.”
_______________________________________________________________
Did President Trump lie?
Did the Warren Commission lie?
“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.”
― Mark Twain
Robert Mueller is an incompetent, crook, and a very good friend of James Comey. What’s wrong with that picture?
Trump does not lie. He speaks the truth. Only the opposition say that every word out of Trump’s mouth is a lie. Anyone with an ounce of brain in his head knows that the opposition is lying and is wrong on everything. It is like the kettle calling the pot black.
The Warren Commission is a joke!
On Mark Twain’s quotation, fortunately total votes does not make a difference. However, to win, a candidate must win a majority of the votes of the Electoral College. That’s exactly what Trump did to win. Our founding fathers were geniuses and knew about the modern-day Demonrat Party and their dirty tricks. The fools lost, and they cannot accept the loss. What a bunch of poor losers!
And you’re just an awful person. I’ve never seen so much vicious hate by a presumably well-educated person.
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mueller
Born Robert Swan Mueller III
August 7, 1944 (age 72)
New York City
Political party Republican[1]
Education Princeton University (BA)
New York University (MA)
University of Virginia (JD)
Military service
Service/branch United States Marine Corps
Unit 3rd Marine Division
Battles/wars Vietnam War
Awards Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Gallantry Cross
Mueller, along with deputy attorney general James Comey, threatened to resign from office, in March 2004, if the White House overruled a Department of Justice finding that domestic wiretapping without a court warrant was unconstitutional.[15]
Mueller received the 2016 Thayer Award for public service from the United States Military Academy.[25] He is scheduled in June to receive the 2017 Baker Award for intelligence and national security contributions from the nonprofit Intelligence and National Security Alliance.[26]
And you are the nicest Lib-Dem I have ever known. Of course, the rest of them are bottom feeders and traitors to our country. You’re at the top of the heap. For an uneducated person, you sure sound like a brilliant genius.
Groaning Garbage Barge of U.S. Affairs
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB66lIUWsAAlTEK.jpg
MuhRussia WitchHunt Clock as of June 9,2017 …
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DB5AP9WW0AAA9B2.jpg
A great many people never listen to what Trump ACTUALLY says. HE uses a trick that few people are aware of. Here is how it works:
Trump will have said something like “I hope you” “blah blah blah” “let Flynn go”. Comey will have heard this as “I hope you” “let Flynn go”, because the “blah blah blah” will sound meaningless to Comey’s ears. So Comey will assume the “blah blah blah” was not important.
In point of fact however, it a tape recording does exists, it will show that the “blah blah blah” was the most important part of the conversation, because it will disconnect the “I hope you” from “let Flynn go”. The tape recording will sound like: “I hope you” “blah don’t blah” “let Flynn go”.
In point of fact Trump will have told Comey “Do Not let Flynn go”, but he will have said it in such a way that Comey heard “let Flynn go”.
So, what’s your point?
Very well done. It appears to me to be fairly black and white. At the least he violated FBI policy of non-disclosure and at worst violated law by releasing confidential government documents. If I am correct, an investigation would require a referral to the DOJ and hopefully this will put the investigative focus on unauthorized leaks to media instead of this ridiculous hunt for a crime involving Russia.
Amen, John, words spoken like a genius!
Comey was Director of the FBI at the time, the releases were done for a political purpose, thus politicizing the FBI, which is *supposed* to be an investigatory agency, above politics. Not of course that it ever has been, it has functioned as political police from the outset and in light of the many scandals (fabrication of evidence ine the FBI Crime Lab, for one notorious example; politically-inspired “sting” operations for another) should be abolished. As for Comey, whether this memo was accorded any degree of classification should rest on the degree of classification of the other memos of an FBI Director; and I think they are in fact classified. Non-classified information is generally disseminated as a “Press Release”.
Concur.
How could these notes be considered ‘classified’ if the PotUS repeatedly referenced specifics of these conversations both in the letter firing Comey and subsequent tweets.?
“How could these notes be considered ‘classified’ if the PotUS repeatedly referenced specifics of these conversations both in the letter firing Comey and subsequent tweets.?”
Those notes are not considered as “classified.” However, they are government “proprietary” property, and Comey stole that property and used it in a devious way to get back at Trump for firing him. Comey is on a vendetta and is a kingpin in the Deep State, which is attempting to sink Trump and the USA. We must not allow that to happen. Send me an email at RobertTUda1@gmail.com and I will email you a couple of files on Comey.
The “proprietary property” claim was nullified when Trump Tweeted his threat about
“James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
5:26 AM – 12 May 2017″
He might as well have advertised that the supposedly private conversation was being listened to by wingnut fans on the Internet.
Trump is as stupid as Nixon was. For a guy who’s owned casinos, he sure doesn’t know anything about playing his cards close to his vest.
As stupid as you say they are, they both are much smarter than you, bunky.
Questions for Dr Bob Uda – What are your thoughts on Dir Comey’s comments pertaining to Loretta Lynch? She didn’t come up with that on her own. Besides being pressured by Bill Clinton (that info is widely available by Google search), do you think Pres Obama or Valerie Jarrett had a hand in this?? Thank you
The subversive Obungler is at the center of all of the anti-Trump effort. If you haven’t seen the long post I made earlier, let me know, and I’ll send it to you. They are methodically attempting to destroy our country and take over as dictators.
Your paranoia is showing.
Not paranoia. I just know exactly what is going on behind the scenes. What are you? An accomplice to the Deep State hidden government? You sure sound like one of them.
This is why Georgetown is no longer T14.
Just saying.
Never forget that neither Comey nor Mueller enforced federal law on torture, warrantless wiretapping or violating (binding) international treaties like Reagan’s Convention Against Torture. Both also allowed the World War Two precedent of the “Nuremberg Defense” to be destroyed, which protects American military personnel if captured in battle – it makes their captors legally liable for torture and cruel treatment as prosecutable war crimes. Apparently their “integrity” ends for certain groups of alleged criminals. Many, if not most, Americans think all of this is a joke since the law doesn’t apply to all equally.
Sure would have been nice if a single congressional critter asked Comey if he had memos on illegal activities of the Clinton Foundation when he was one to the Board directors earning his slimy rear end with millions of dollars.
Good point! The question I would ask Comey is this: “Did you write any personal memos before the day Trump fired you?”
With have a brain, he did.
Comey testified that he did. He started writing his personal memos after the first encounter meeting Trump in late January 2017.
You have a selective memory or you don’t bother using Google or reading anywhere except wingnut right sources, as evidenced by your claim that you’re not aware of any of Trump’s daily Tweets being provably false.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/maryanngeorgantopoulos/president-trump-lie-list?utm_term=.wmY8B34vW#.uwR7rzj3d
I meant to ask Comey, “Did you leak any other information prior to being fired by President Trump?” Comey is a major Deep State agent.
You are conflating the word information and what actually happened here. You want folks to swallow that the mans thoughts belong to the US government. NO SIR – His thoughts belong to HIM!! Just because he put HIS THOUGHTS on paper (even if through the use of a federal device – as if I can’t purchase groceries on my federal computer – the groceries don’t belong to the federal government you – guys are a bunch of hacks), you assert they no longer belong to HIM!! Are you a conservative? You want to accuse him of violating federal statutes and FBI regulations against the dissemination of information that belongs to the government and then conflate that with – Again – if Former FBI Director Comey would have kept those thoughts in his head and then told his professor to publish it on the usual ‘unnamed inside source’ he would be fine in your world – the only difference is he recorded his own thoughts and you want to put him in jail – that SIR is tyranny.
Wrong assessment, Dennis. Did you know that a person can be charged with plagiarism by stealing his own writings and using them without proper citation?
Dear Lord, Mr. Uda,
You can say people have plagiarized themselves, colloquially, in jest, maybe in some more serious way if, say, they’re writing the same paper in college for two separate courses, say, two papers about social injustice or liberal perfidy for PoliSci 101 and 404. I’ve failed students for plagiarism, and got one expelled. All for plagiarizing others after ample warning.
But being *legally* “charged” with plagiarism in any significant sense by citing yourself in *notes prepared for your own congressional testimony* is beyond silly. To say it’s plagiarism is to say you’re repeating your own defense in public twice.
In this context, at least, one wonders if Trump has the tapes. We’re not speaking of plagiarism. We’re speaking of letting out documents in advance. If he should be treated like Reality Winner, let’s say how. If we want to know how government has been working, let these leaks out, cross-examine the documents, look for Trump’s tapes, that, and so forth.
For information on “self-plagiarism,” please refer to the APA Manual (6th ed.), section 1.10 on Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism (pp. 15-16) and section 6.02 Self-Plagiarism (p. 170). I personally despise the existence of self-plagiarism and wrote a paper on it. However, if we use the APA Manual (6th ed.) as our required guidance document as do most colleges and universities, then, we must live with self-plagiarism.
FYI, there is not a classification level known as confidential any longer and there has not been for quite some time. There is currently something known as Sensitive But Unclassified or SBU but even that is not considered a classification level. Of those, there are but two, secret and top secret. There are additional special handling methods our programmatic clearances such as Special Compartmented Information (SCI), but even that is not a classification level. It is always used as TS/SCI because TS is the classification level and SCI is the special handling rules that are to be in effect.
Most of what used to be confidential now falls within a category like PPI (protected personal information).
It doesn’t matter what the classification of Comey’s memo. Comey stole government property, even though he took his own writings. He created it while a government employee. So, he is in trouble for theft. What people don’t realize is the day Comey was fired, AG Sessions and his people went into Comey’s office and confiscated all of his materials, tapes, computers, etc. In other words, the DOJ has everything that is detrimental to Comey. Comey is in deep trouble. He will soon realize it with each passing day. I feel sorry for James Comey. He is going down.
I just noticed I inadvertently referred to SCI as Special Compartmented Information when, in fact, it is Sensitive Compartmented Information.
Mea culpa…
Good man!
The premise that this story starts with is wrong from what I saw in the testimony. One memo (not memos) which was given to his friend that was not classified in any way shape or form to directly rebut the statements made by the President of the United States. He turned the memos over to the special counsel with whom he consulted – before his testimony. This forced not only Trump’s worse nightmare – a special counsel – but the box he has himself in today. Only one thing can save him – he better hope he has tapes that directly contradict the former Director of the FBI.
You made that up. Very amusing. Give it to the NYT. They will run with it.
LOL!
Not sure about your conclusion about tapes. Remember, it was the existence of tapes that ruined President Nixon. If he had destroyed the tapes, it boils down to He Said – He Said. That’s it! I have numerous incidents that Comey has been caught in lies and proven to be a scoundrel. Sean Hannity calls Comey a snake. He is cunning, manipulative, self-serving, and other such unpleasant descriptions.
Even though Trump’s enemies call Trump a total liar, Trump’s supporters believe that Trump always tells the truth in his tweets and press conferences. How many of Trump’s daily Tweets are proven to be false? I am not aware of any. This is why Trump’s supporters believe Trump over Comey.
No matter what the Lame-stream Media (LSM) says, nobody on the right believes the LSM because we know that they lie on a daily basis. Just listen to MSNBC and CNN. And when you have nothing but liars supporting Comey over Trump, who do you think Trump’s supporters will believe? Trump wins hands down.
Comey may have initiated a special counsel. However, Comey has turned from the hunter into the hunted. And since Comey has proven himself on national TV to be timid and a coward by showing himself to be the victim (Remember the victim mentality?), he has taken the loser’s limp role. Those with loser’s limp never seem to win. Trump always thinks, acts, and results as a winner. At this point, I feel pity for Comey.
Trump opened the door for unclassified release and media publication of Comey’s notes by stupidly (repeat: STUPIDLY) Tweeting this:
“James Comey better hope that there are no “tapes” of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
5:26 AM – 12 May 2017″
If he’d just SHUT UP, and exercised executive privilege BEFORE HE FIRED Comey, chances are the acting AG never would have appointed Mueller as special counsel.
That’s why Jonathan Turley and all the RWNJs here are wrong.
Speaking of a troll. Look in the mirror, Xenophobe.
Trump starring as the Wizard of Oz and Comey appearing as the Cowardly Lion.
Comey just needs some viagra tablets.
As for Comey, he is a criminal hiding behind a badge.