In the midst of the flurry of activity on Capitol Hill and in the courts, a single subpoena from federal prosecutors last week went largely unnoticed by many in Washington. However, it could represent a significant development in the long-standing and unresolved questions surrounding the exit of James Comey as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The subpoena was served on Columbia law professor Daniel Richman, a close friend of Comey’s who has been accused of serving as his conduit for leaks to the media.
James Comey has long been one of the most carefully self-constructed images in Washington. Comey’s tenure often seemed more performative than professional, as with his controversial press conference in which he declared that Hillary Clinton had violated federal criminal law with her emails but declined to charge her.
Comey had long been a political operator who portrayed himself as an apolitical public servant, immune to the temptations or trappings of the political class. Investigations have produced a contrary image.
When President Donald Trump canned him in his first term, Comey dropped any pretense. He was later found by the Inspector General to have removed FBI material when he left the bureau related to Trump and the Russian investigation. Some of that information was later given to the New York Times.
The respected veteran investigative reporter Catherine Herridge reported on a June 2017 memorandum that documented a phone call with Richman and the so-called “Comey memos,” which detailed his conversations with President Trump.
According to sources, five days earlier, on June 8, 2017, Comey “asked Professor Richman to disclose the content of at least one of those memoranda to the press…”
The sources said that Richman was dismissive over the violation of federal rules stating “something to the effect, of, ‘You do things by your rules’ and ‘I do things by my rules.’” Richman seemed to claim that he was serving as counsel and allegedly insisted that “there is a substantial extent to which I would raise attorney-client issues.”
Richman later was quoted as saying that he did not think that he confirmed classified material from Comey to New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt while admitting that he did speak to him.
However, he admits that he did share the content of Comey’s stolen memos about his interactions with Trump.
The Inspector General was scathing and found that Comey was a leaker and violated FBI policy in his handling of FBI memos, including material containing the “code name and true identity” of a sensitive source. It did not find that he disclosed the classified information.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that Comey took “the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.” He further added that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees—and the many thousands of more former FBI employees—who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”
Comey was not criminally charged. He is now under investigation again, and the subpoena for his friend, Richman, can only be viewed as ominous.
Notably, when Trump was indicted, Comey celebrated and called it a “good day.” Since then, he has been ridiculed for conveying bizarre, including threatening messages, found in seashells along the beach.
Yet, Comey still fashions himself (with the help of an enabling media) as the model of what he calls “ethical leadership.” Past investigations have already left his prior claims almost comically contradicted, including that “Ethical leaders lead by seeing above the short term, above the urgent or the partisan, and with a higher loyalty to lasting values, most importantly the truth.”
The investigation may now lead to Comey himself being called and placed under oath. The man who pursued leakers and those accused of false statements will now face renewed questions over his own hypocritical conduct.
For Richman, a subpoena carries increased risks because he has previously spoken to both the media and investigators. He reportedly has already met with federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia. Any alleged misrepresentation could result in a charge to pressure him to cooperate as a witness against Comey.
Beer For My Horses
We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
Too much corruption and crime in the streets
It’s time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send ’em all to their maker and he’ll settle ’em down
You can bet he’ll settle ’em down
‘Cause justice is the one thing you should always find
You gotta saddle up your boys
You gotta draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we’ll sing a victory tune
And we’ll all meet back at the local saloon
And we’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing, “Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.”
“Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.”
https://youtu.be/hi10jYcfO_8
You have your rules and I have mine. The rule of law and ethics be damned. Benedict Arnold thought the same way. You have your rules and he had his.
And how many of us jaded conservatives know that nothing will ever come of all these investigations; the rot spreads so deep and wide that I dare say that no one is truly willing to see just how many are tangled up in a web that has grown for 250 years.
We do need a fumigation and exposure of all the buried bodies, but whom among us has the fortitude to do this? Heck, even 4 republicans were unwilling to vote to condemn omar of classless effrontery and being on the tip of sedition at all times. I have little hope of a significant amount of career politicians of any stripe being willing to poke this bear.
To sum it up – nothing will happen, a few campaign quotes will be produced and it will all slip, silently, into the swamp.
Jonathan: “Free Speech” is a core principal of our Constitution. DJT promised in his second term that there would be “full transparency” and free speech would be central. Instead, DJT has done the opposite. He is refusing to release all the Epstein files and is cracking down on free speech everywhere–in every government agency and even in private institutions.
Just yesterday Pete Hegseth, Secretary of “War”, issued new restrictions on press access to the Pentagon. Reporters are now expected to only report on policies or actions spoon fed to them by Pentagon spokespersons. Reporters press credentials will be yanked if they try to independently verify or they challenge the official line. That’s, of course, “prior restraint” prohibited under NY times vs US (1971) by the SC. In that important case the Court ruled the Nixon administration could not block the publication of classified studies related to the Vietnam War. No doubt the new Hegseth policy will be challenged in court by press orgs.
Private institutions are not immune from DJT’s crackdown on free speech. Law firms and universities, like Harvard, have been forced to use the courts to uphold their 1st Amendment rights. Some law firms and universities, like Columbia and UC Berkely have caved under DJT’s threats.
And last month DJT sued the NY Times (again) for $15 billion claiming the paper’s reporting on the coverup of the Epstein files scandal was defamatory of him. On Thursday Judge Steven Merryday, a Republican appointee in Florida, spent little time in striking down DJT’s 85-page complaint as a public relations stunt meant to “rage against an adversary” but not a reasoned lawsuit. Merryday said: “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperative and invective”. The Judge gave DJT 28 days to refile his complaint and it must be limited to 40 pages as required by federal rules of civil procedure. This is not the first time DJT has been slapped down by the courts. In 2022 federal judge Donald Middlebrook tossed a similar DJT lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and later fined DJT and his attorney, Alina Habba, $1 million for filing a completely frivolous lawsuit.
And DJT’s crackdown on free expression extends to individual reporters. On Wednesday, just before leaving for the UK, DJT was asked by ABC reporter Jonathan Karl about Pam Bondi’s threat to crack down on “hate speech” after the killing of Charlie Kirk. This was DJT’s response: “She’d probably go after people like you because you treat me so unfairly…”. DJT’s threat was echoed by Steven Miller, the fascist architect of most of DJT’s policies, who declared: “We’re going to take your job, your money…and then we will apply the laws”. In Miller’s demented mind application of “the laws” comes after taking a critic’s job and money. He did that with comedians Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.
DJT is an authoritarian dictator and Steven Miller is his Herr Goebbels!. They are following the fascist playbook of other fascists like Hitler and Victor Orban in Hungary. Now as a self described “free speech” absolutist we would think you would have some criticism of DJT’s attacks on the 1st amendment. Instead, all we hear are crickets!
Dennis McIntyre: Try again. Do you remember Murthy case?
Anonymous, your dishonest attempt at deflection is duly noted. If an FBI Director leaked a conversation with Joe Biden you’d be more out of your mind than you already are. Your look over hear look over hear response is simply juvenile. Sitting In mommies basement, taking another toke and furiously pounding your keyboard from early in the morning until late in the evening, hair frazzled and bulging bloodshot eyes while conversing with your best friend Jack Daniels. Not so hard to picture.
No kidding, what a load of crap that was… some drool rolling down from his chinny chin chin when he spied the condition that his sister was in. He quivered and quaked and he clutched at himself while the Turly crew joked of his mental health.
Trump is covering up the Epstein files because it’s likely he is guilty of having sex with underage girls.
must we keep seeing this tired old prog talking point? Really, if Trumps name had been on this list it would have been released by the autopen president. The list was kept secret because a good deal of western cultural stability would evaporate if such a list (if it did exist) to be exposed. Either there is no list or there is a list long enough to cause major instability all over.
Now STFU about the list and Trump. It grows wearisome and useless plus it continues your proof to us of your troll status.
James Comey followed in the footsteps of Mark Felt, who leaked to the WP information damaging, or treated as damaging, to Richard Nixon, thus helping drive a man elected by 49 states out of office. Felt never paid for his breach of duty.
Comey knowingly lied on three FISA affidavits for search warrants, which is the very definition of a crooked copy IMHO. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article. Greg
Richman says something to the effect, of, ‘You do things by your rules’ and ‘I do things by my rules.’”
Ah! Down that path proceeds the likes of Tyler Robinson.
My thoughts exactly – thank you for this.
I always thought that DJT’s greatest error of his first term was not demanding Mr. Comey’s resignation to be on the president’s desk when he returned from the Inaugural parade. Comey’s performance when he listed all of Hilary’s shenanigans with her e-mail setup and then declined to refer her for prosecution was unbelievable. And then basically made that decision as the investigator when it should have been up the DOJ who made the final decision about prosecution. The mental gyrations he went through strongly suggested that if you were with the “IN” crowd, the law would not be a problem for your.
Seemed like Mr Comey was a very intelligent individual with his education and accomplishments but his moral compass seemed somewhat askew and he could never really understand that there were significantly different points of view of the world outside of the Boston-New York-Washington D.C. axis.
He acted like he decided the law and “We the People” was just a handy but out of date catch phrase. Arrogant as hell also.
Will Americans ever see justice for these professional political criminals or is our government’s idea of criminal justice for all a sham?
A shameless sham!
A loose of sham.
“The man who pursued leakers and those accused of false statements will now face renewed questions over his own hypocritical conduct.”
Democrat hero Comey either disbarred or facing trial in Washington DC? Might as well dream of every day being Christmas. Just one more of Obama/Biden’s unindicted Democrat lawyer felons.
Comey’s conduct, LONG before Trump won the election and not just afterwards, was straight up criminal.
The man who is your brother member of the Washington DC Bar Association repeatedly perjured himself to Judge Boasberg’s FISA courts – and committed the additional felony of 8 U.S. Code § 1324c each time he entered the felonious Russia Dossier while swearing it was all verified as per the FISA courts’ mandatory Woods Procedures. The Washington DC Bar Association approves of his felonies, as does Judge Boasberg.
And while he was happy to destroy the lives of minor people for “lying to the FBI” with perjury traps, while hoping one of them would give him something to indict Trump with, we aren’t going to see your bar association impose any sanctions on him, much less disbar him. Indictments for the felonies he repeatedly committed while FBI Director… that isn’t going to happen.
In politics, likes attract. Thus, it’s not surprising that Richman could be an agent for Comey’s little power games. Richman may have felt this is a way to the top, while Comey was enjoying what you can do when you are at the top. Both, heady in their mischief, get poor marks at covering their tracks. Comey has become a naturalist finding unusual seashell markings on the beach, while Richman is hiding inside a safe house.
“. . . Richman is hiding inside a safe house.
I recommend he not stroll around Fort Marcy Park.
Sam: Someone told me that outside of the Fort was a large, open, empty sea shell with blue footprints leading out of it toward Turkey Run Park off the GW Memorial Parkway. No coded message on the shell.
Well there is always the 5th, right? Talking to others while NOT under oath is probably a weak leverage point. Besides, we all know a DC jury of anti-facists will certainly never indict or convict a true Democrat Believer like Comey or his ilk, right? DC juries are self-righteous and certainly want to be that “light on the hill” for anyone who helps stop ORANGE MAN BAD!!! Stupidest place on earth!!!
Maybe not THE stupidest, remember the NY jury in Trump’s case and the LA jury in OJ’s case. It is a liberal disease.
86 the Ethicist of Excuses for DeepState oversight and refereeing of the Executive and so much else. Best part is Hillary Clinton still openly blames Comey for her loss in 2016 (as he was a bit too clever in thinking she’d win despite his strategy).
He will take the 5th. If they subpoened documents, and he admits to having them, the attorney client privilege might yield .
He never signed any documents regarding representation, was never paid and never he billed Comey.
Trump took boxes and boxes of classified material, and acts in the interest of the most evil leader in the 21st century, Vladimir Putin.
Hate to break it to you, but Presidents can declassify anything.
Mike P
The only presidents who emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine were Obama and Biden, leaving Trump a massive clean-up chore
Anonymous because being stupid is just too much to admit out loud.
Trump was PRESIDENT, Comey wasn’t, Biden wasn’t (when he tool the docs as a Senator and VP) and Hilary wasn’t. But hey, you were close to making a legitimate point.
Hilarious watching MAGAtards attempt to defend Trump for every lie he tells and for his utter incompetence. Trump says inflation was solved. The MAGAtards believe it cuz he said it. Even MAGAtard farmers who are on the verge of losing their farms because of the retarded tariffs are blaming Biden for their predicament. LOL.
SCUM COMEY!!
What a piece of garbage. Head of the FBI, making stupid memes about Taylor Swift and “shell arrangements “ on a beach walk? Said nothing while the Biden dementia patient canal lead us to the precipice of nuclear war and edge of economic collapse. Didn’t know what 86 meant, Im a Swifty… This idiot was the head of the FBI? What he did to our Nation was treasonous and every last one of these seditious conspirators should be held accountable and prosecuted.
Bye bye Comatose!
Comey prosecuted Martha Stewart though there was no underlying crime.
He also let Hillary walk on Travel gate. Obstruction and perjury. He’s a POS, Gman my arse.
The over-under for the Fifth pleadings is set by experts (me) at 17. Lawyer-client privilege pleadings at 5. Place your bets, ladies and germs.
It’ll be a logistical nightmare the moment Comey is arrested. He’ll have to be kept in complete isolation. Remember what happened to Derek Chauvin in federal custody. Remember what happened to Jeffrey Epstein.
His little friend will take the 5th and clam up. The purported attorney-client privilege has about as much substance as spousal privilege.
For the sake of transparency, Comey and Richmond are a couple.
Off with his head!