Newly declassified memos have revealed that Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor and confidant of former FBI Director James Comey, leaked classified information to The New York Times in 2017. The disclosures were part of efforts to encourage the appointment of a special counsel to investigate alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.
James Comey previously acknowledged during his June 2017 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee that he had asked a friend to share contents from memos he wrote about his conversations with President Trump. When questioned by Senator Susan Collins, Comey confirmed that he shared these memos outside the Department of Justice.
Daniel Richman was identified as this friend. According to his biography at Columbia University, Richman served as an adviser to James Comey during his time as FBI Director. He has also been described in The New York Times as a “longtime confidant and friend of Mr. Comey’s.” However, it was not disclosed until shortly before Comey’s testimony that Richman was one of his personal lawyers or an unpaid employee of the FBI.
The newly released memos show that some information shared with Richman reached the Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) level. During interviews with agents investigating leaks under the FBI’s “Arctic Haze” inquiry, Richman admitted receiving such classified details from Comey.
According to Just The News, the Arctic Haze investigation examined four news articles based on leaks attributed to Richman. These included pieces published by The New York Times in April 2017 and several stories from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal in April and May 2017 (https://t.co/ynZuXSBRCT).
The leaks contributed to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s decision on May 17, 2017, to appoint Robert Mueller as Special Counsel for the Russia investigation.
Just The News reported:
“The FBI concluded numerous legacy news media stories that crafted the false Russia collusion narrative contained illegally leaked classified intelligence but failed to definitively identify the leakers. But agents did force a stunning admission that ex-FBI Director James Comey used a special conduit to the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times in his bid to polish his image and push for a special prosecutor to take down President Donald Trump.”
Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman admitted communicating on behalf of Comey with New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt regarding coverage related to Russian election interference. Internal FBI memos indicate that their aim was “to correct stories critical of Comey, the FBI and to shape future press coverage” outside official channels.
Richman told investigators he sometimes provided information anonymously after being given access by Comey to highly classified material up to SCI level.
The full report can be found at Just The News (https://t.co/ynZuXSBRCT).
