Newly declassified memos reveal that members of former FBI Director James Comey’s inner circle used personal email accounts to discuss an “unauthorized disclosure” to journalists, months after Comey declined to bring charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server during the 2016 election.
According to the newly released memos, federal prosecutors in 2019 rejected a request from investigators in a criminal probe known as “TROPIC VORTEX” to access the private emails. The documents were uncovered by current FBI Director Kash Patel and declassified for Congress by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Just the News reported.
An FBI memo stated that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., “issued a prosecutorial declination decision for TROPIC VORTEX,” effectively shutting down the probe.
The documents add to evidence that frontline FBI agents raised concerns about potential leaks and misuse of classified information involving figures such as Comey, now-Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Clinton, but said their efforts to investigate were repeatedly blocked, said the outlet.
Just the News reported last week that agents obtained eyewitness testimony from James Comey’s former chief of staff, James Rybicki, and former FBI General Counsel James Baker, indicating that Comey had authorized the leak of classified information to reporters shortly before the 2016 election. No charges were filed, the outlet added.
The investigation, led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, focused on leaks of classified information to The New York Times in October 2016, weeks before Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Just the News on Tuesday that the latest disclosures further justify President Donald Trump’s 2017 decision to fire James Comey.
“Time and again, the curtain has been pulled back to reveal Comey’s self-serving, ‘rules for thee and not for me’ attitude,” Grassley said. “That’s no way to run an institution, especially not the top law enforcement agency in the nation.
“I stood by President Trump’s decision to dismiss Comey in 2017 and I support his move all the more with each passing day,” Grassley continued.
Newly declassified memos allege that in March 2017, James Rybicki forwarded a communication to his personal email account to facilitate an unauthorized disclosure of classified information to reporters at James Comey’s direction. Comey has denied under oath that he was ever a source for news stories about FBI investigations into Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, or that he authorized others to be sources, and has maintained that he is being politically targeted for standing up to Trump.