Interviews with “officials familiar with the documents” said fired FBI Director James Comey leaked classified information included in the memos he wrote about meetings he had with President Donald Trump.
The president responded on Monday with a tweet about the revelation:
James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
“James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!” Trump tweeted.
The Hill reported in an article posted on Sunday night:
More than half of the memos former FBI chief James Comey wrote as personal recollections of his conversations with President Trump about the Russia investigation have been determined to contain classified information, according to interviews with officials familiar with the documents.
The Hill ironically compared Comey’s behavior to that of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information on an unsecured email server that Comey was in charge of investigating.
“This revelation raises the possibility that Comey broke his own agency’s rules and ignored the same security protocol that he publicly criticized Hillary Clinton for in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election,” the Hill reported.
Comey told Congress during his appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee in June that he had shared “personal documents” with a professor at Columbia University as a way to pressure the federal government — i.e., the Trump administration — to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged ties between the Russians and the Trump presidential campaign.
“My view was that the content of those unclassified, memorialization of those conversations was my recollection recorded,” Comey said in his testimony.
“But when the seven memos Comey wrote regarding his nine conversations with Trump about Russia earlier this year were shown to Congress in recent days, the FBI claimed all were, in fact, deemed to be government documents,” according to the outlet.
The Hill also reported that FBI policy prohibits any agent from releasing classified information or any information from ongoing investigations without specific permission from the agency.
“Unauthorized disclosure, misuse, or negligent handling of information contained in the files, electronic or paper, of the FBI or which I may acquire as an employee of the FBI could impair national security, place human life in jeopardy, result in the denial of due process, prevent the FBI from effectively discharging its responsibilities, or violate federal law,” states the agreement all FBI agents sign.
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