comey intelligence committee
© Joshua Roberts/ReutersFBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, January 10, 2017.
James Comey, the ex-FBI director who claims to have boasted to President Trump that he didn't do "weasel moves" like leaking information, is in jeopardy, and leaks are to blame.

During the first week of his book tour to promote A Higher Loyalty, Comey has come under fire for leaking memos to a friend that recounted conversations he had with Trump in 2017 before he was fired in May.

The memos he wrote - seven in total - have attracted scrutiny from the Justice Department's inspector general who, less than 24 hours after the release of the memos, launched an investigation into whether the former FBI director leaked classified information when he shared several of the memos to a friend not affiliated with government.


The latest development in the Comey saga comes tinged with a hint of irony. "I said I don't do sneaky things, I don't leak, I don't do weasel moves," Comey claims to have told Trump in a memo dated Jan. 28, 2017.

Even before the news of the memos investigation, Comey was already under threat from the DOJ's inspector general report on the FBI's handling of the probe on former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email server, which is expected to be released in May. The probe is evaluating Comey's statements from August 2016 that Clinton would not be charged, and then his announcement the case would be reopened in October.

That added to pressure already put in place by 11 Republican House members urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to prosecute Comey and others, including former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. The lawmakers refer Comey and McCabe for "investigation of potential violation(s) of federal statutes," according to a letter sent to Sessions, FBI Director Chris Wray, and U.S. Attorney John Huber on Wednesday.

At least one of Comey's memos, in which he recalls Trump asking him to back off the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, was shared with the New York Times.

Comey removed classified information from the memos before sending them to his friend, former federal prosecutor-turned-law-professor Daniel Richman. Although only one of the four at the time contained classified information, DOJ IG investigators have found at least two of the memos contain information the FBI considers classified, according to the Wall Street Journal.

News of the watchdog investigation comes on the heels of the memos' Thursday evening release to Congress after top Republican committee chairmen demanded the Justice Department hand them over. Subsequently leaked to the media, the memos portray that Comey took a hard stance against leakers - at least in his conversations with Trump.

In one conversation chronicled in a memo dated Feb. 19, 2017, Comey recalled discussing with Trump how to snuff out leakers. Comey argued that leaks jeopardized the FBI's ability to function, and Trump said, "We need to go after the reporters."

The issue was brought up again later during the meeting.

"The President then wrapped up our conversation by returning to the issue of finding leakers. I said something about the value of putting a head on a pike as a message," Comey wrote in the memo. "He replied by saying it may involve putting reporters in jail. 'They spend a couple days in jail, make a new friend, and they are ready to talk.' I laughed as I walked to the door Reince Preibus had opened."

Additionally, Comey also revealed in an interview Thursday that he launched an investigation potential leaks from his agency in response to boasts by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in which he appeared to predict a troubling development for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Within a few days, less than two weeks before the 2016 election, Comey announced the FBI was reopening the investigation into Clinton's unauthorized email server after finding a new series of emails on a laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Comey told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow he never learned the outcome of the investigation. "I got fired before it was finished, but I know that I asked that it be investigated," he said. Earlier that day Giuliani was hired to be part of President Trump's legal team amid the Russia investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and the Kremlin.

Comey's memos have attracted backlash from leading political figures including Trump, who argued Comey leaked classified information.

"James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION," Trump tweeted Thursday. "Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?"


According to Comey's congressional testimony last year, handing what he described as his personal memos to his friend outside of government was a scheme to secure the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

"My judgment was, I need to get that out into the public square," Comey said before the Senate Intelligence Committee last summer. "I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter. Didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons. I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel."

Focus on the memos have also drawn attention to implications they have on the special counsel Robert Mueller, particularly why he was appointed in the first place. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from campaign-related matters after Comey's ouster.

"Tragedy that a special counsel investigation was launched by leaking of the memos (which Comey has admitted). No basis in the memos to trigger a criminal investigation & it is to the discredit of Rosenstein that he caved to the pressure of the media/Democrats & appointed Mueller," Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., tweeted Thursday evening.

On Monday, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz torched Comey for disclosing the memos, arguing he "demeaned" the agency by providing the memos to his friend.

Comey didn't have the "courage to tell the president to his face he was wrong," after Trump allegedly turned up the heat on Comey to end the FBI's probe on Flynn," Dershowitz argued. Flynn was removed from his post early last year and pleaded guilty in federal court in December for lying to the FBI in January 2017 about his contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

"This is a man without courage," Dershowitz said of Comey during the appearance with Fox News.

Comey does have his defenders.

One top Democrat argued the memos are consistent with Comey's testimony. "The release of these memos - under threat of subpoena by the Majority - has accomplished little other than corroborating Mr. Comey's previous testimony," House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement this week.

Meanwhile, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking member of the oversight panel, said the memos provided "strong corroborating evidence of everything he said about President Trump - that the President wanted his personal loyalty, that he wanted to end the Russia investigation, and that he wanted Michael Flynn to walk."

comey book
© Associated Press/Mark LennihanThe book, "A Higher Loyalty" by former FBI Director James Comey is displayed at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in New York.
The release of the memos and the launch of the investigation coincides with the publication of Comey's new book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, which hit bookshelves last week week.

Comey has already completed several interviews promoting his book, and has more lined up in the coming days.

Questions in some of his interviews have caused Comey to appear at odds with McCabe, his former deputy. At one point, Comey admitted to CNN anchor Jake Tapper that it was possible he could testify against McCabe in a criminal trial, after it was revealed the DOJ IG submitted a referral to the U.S. Attorney's Office to criminally charge McCabe. Comey also admitted he approved the probe that ultimately led to McCabe's ouster last month. That watchdog report found McCabe "lacked candor" in four instances, three of which were situations where he was under oath.


Comment: McCabe needed to go:


McCabe has denied the report's findings and fired back at Comey on Wednesday after he referred to the watchdog's conclusions about McCabe as being evidence that he lied. "Comey has relied on the accuracy and the soundness of the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) conclusions in their report on Mr. McCabe. In fact, the report fails to adequately address the evidence (including sworn testimony) and documents that prove that Mr. McCabe advised Director Comey repeatedly that he was working with the Wall Street Journal on the stories in question prior to publication," said Michael Bromwich, counsel for McCabe.

After the damning watchdog report about McCabe, a criminal referral was sent to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C.

Comey also found himself facing controversy in the first leg of his book tour, which began Wednesday.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer disrupted Comey's first book signing Wednesday in New York City. She was escorted out from the event by security, but not before shouting at Comey, "You're going to get locked up," and, "You are not an ethical leader!" Video of the encounter was widely shared online.


Next week could come with peril too. While Comey will participate in a CNN town hall with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, he will also appear on Fox News for an interview with anchor Bret Baier. The network's coverage of Comey has been decidedly negative.

Baier told Fox News anchor Dana Perino earlier this week there are plenty of issues Comey hasn't addressed yet, such as "unanswered questions" about the probe into Clinton's email server. Baier signaled he would broach these untouched issues in his interview with Comey.

"There's a lot of things so far he has not been asked," Baier said. "I hope he doesn't because April 26 I'll be sitting down with James Comey, but we'll see what's left on the table by the time we get there."

Diana Stancy Correll is a breaking news reporter for the Washington Examiner. Previously, she interned at the Daily Signal and Burlington Times-News, and was a 2016 summer Student Free Press Association journalism fellow at the Washington Examiner. She is a graduate of Elon University.