A day after the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, officials with the Justice Department were still offering few details about their case — but sources said Friday that one of the two counts in the indictment focuses on his alleged role in the sharing of information about an FBI investigation related to Hillary Clinton.
Count 1 of the indictment, which charges Comey with making false statements to Congress, involves Comey’s alleged role in having his close friend and former personal lawyer, Daniel Richman, provide information to reporters about an FBI probe connected to Clinton, sources told ABC News.
In the indictment, Count 1 says that Comey “willfully and knowingly” lied when, testifying under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2020, he reaffirmed previous Senate testimony insisting that he never “authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports” about an investigation connected to someone only identified as “PERSON 1.”
“That statement was false, because, as JAMES B. COMEY JR. then and there knew, he in fact had authorized PERSON 3 to serve as an anonymous source in news reports regarding [the] FBI investigation,” the indictment reads.
Sources told ABC News that “PERSON 1” is Clinton and “PERSON 3” is Richman, a longtime law professor who — as ABC News previously reported — met with federal prosecutors last week after being subpoenaed in the matter.
It’s unclear exactly which news reports are referred to in the indictment.
The testimony Comey gave that is referenced in the indictment occurred when he was being questioned by Sen. Ted Cruz.
“On May 3, 2017, in this committee, Chairman Grassley asked you point blank, ‘Have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation?’ You responded under oath, ‘Never.’ He then asked you, ‘Have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton administration?’ You responded again under oath, ‘No,'” Cruz said.
Former FBI director James Comey is sworn in during a hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
“Now, as you know, Mr. McCabe, who works for you, has publicly and repeatedly stated that he leaked information to the Wall Street Journal and that you were directly aware of it and that you directly authorized it. Now, what Mr. McCabe is saying and what you testified to this committee cannot both be true. One or the other is false. Who’s telling the truth?” Cruz asked.
“I can only speak to my testimony. I stand by the testimony you summarized that I gave in May of 2017,” Comey responded.
“So your testimony is you’ve never authorized anyone to leak? And Mr. McCabe, if he says contrary, is not telling the truth, is that correct?” asked Cruz.
“Again, I’m not going to characterize Andy’s testimony, but mine is the same today,” Comey replied.
Regarding the question of whether Richman could be considered “someone else at the FBI,” Richman served as an unpaid “Special Government Employee” during Comey’s last two years at the FBI, according to publicly available FBI and Justice Department documents.
His work with the FBI largely focused on promoting lawful access to encrypted phones, and — as Comey himself later told federal investigators in an unrelated matter — Richman was “on-site at the FBI a lot” during that time.
Richman gained notoriety in 2017, when Comey publicly admitted to providing him with memos that documented meetings with Trump during Trump’s first term and asking him to share information from some of the memos with a New York Times reporter.
Speaking later with federal investigators, Richman said he didn’t share classified information with reporters and that, as he saw it, he was helping Comey “get information out that … was unclassified, unprivileged,” and “of enormous national importance,” according to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general.
Richman did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on Friday.