FBI Secretly Opened Probe Alleging Trump Fired Comey Because He Was a Russian Asset, Declassified Memos Show

The White House
August 5, 2026

By John Solomon

The FBI opened a criminal probe specifically targeting Donald Trump in May 2017, alleging the newly elected president may have been acting as a Russian asset when he fired then-Director James Comey even though the bureau’s own evidence overwhelmingly showed at the time there was no collusion with the Kremlin.

Internal FBI memos newly declassified by the White House show the investigation – codenamed Oxferd Comma – was launched in the immediate aftermath of Comey’s May 9, 2017 firing and was predicated on an allegation that previously released records show the bureau’s own agents had mostly dismissed.

“The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States,” the electronic communication opening the probe on May 16, 2017 stated.

“The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes,” it added. “In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspiracy to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”

OXFERD COMMA – Opening EC

The memo, written by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, made clear the concerns about Russian influence and obstruction included Comey’s firing, in part because of the public explanations Trump gave for it.

“This alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey,” the memo stated.

Both the Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were advised that the probe had been launched, the memos show.

James Comey Surrenders: Indicted Over “86 47” Seashell Post | Trump Threat Case

 

 
James Comey Surrenders: Indicted Over “86 47” Seashell Post | Trump Threat Case | N18G

CNN-News18

Former FBI Director James Comey has surrendered to authorities after being indicted over a controversial social media post involving seashells arranged into the numbers “86 47.” Prosecutors allege the post, made last year, was interpreted as a potential threat against former U.S. President Donald Trump, triggering a legal investigation that has now escalated into formal charges. 

The case has sparked intense political and public debate in the United States, with supporters and critics divided over whether the post was symbolic expression or a coded threat. Legal experts suggest the indictment could raise important questions around intent, free speech, and the interpretation of digital content in criminal investigations. 

Comey, a former top law enforcement official, now finds himself at the center of a high-profile legal battle that carries both legal and political implications. The case is expected to draw significant attention in the coming weeks as proceedings move forward.

Daughter of former FBI director and Epstein prosecutor Maurene Comey fired

Obama’s Trump-Russia collusion report was corrupt from start: CIA review

By
Miranda Devine
Published July 2, 2025, 12:13 p.m. ET

A bombshell new CIA review of the Obama administration’s spy agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump was deliberately corrupted by then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who were “excessively involved” in its drafting, and rushed its completion in a “chaotic,” “atypical” and “markedly unconventional” process that raised questions of a “potential political motive.”

Further, Brennan’s decision to include the discredited Steele dossier, over the objections of the CIA’s most senior Russia experts, “undermined the credibility” of the assessment.

The “Tradecraft Review of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] on Russian Election Interference” was conducted by career professionals at the CIA’s Directorate of Analysis and was commissioned by CIA Director John Ratcliffe in May.

 
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The “lessons-learned review” found that, on December 6, 2016, six weeks before his presidency ended, Barack Obama ordered the assessment, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin “aspired” to help Trump win the election.

The review identified “multiple procedural anomalies” that undermined the credibility of the ICA, including “a highly compressed production timeline, stringent compartmentation, and excessive involvement of agency heads.”

It also questioned the exclusion of key intelligence agencies and said media leaks may have influenced analysts to conform to a false narrative of Trump-Russia collusion.

“The rushed timeline to publish both classified and unclassified versions before the presidential transition raised questions about a potential political motive behind the White House tasking and timeline.”

The review found that Brennan directed the compilation of the ICA, and that his, Comey’s and Clapper’s “direct engagement in the ICA’s development was highly unusual in both scope and intensity” and ”risked stifling analytic debate.”

President Barack Obama speaks about Iran and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress during a meeting with Defense Secretary Ash Carter in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 3, 2015.AP

Brennan handpicked the CIA analysts to compile the ICA and involved only the ODNI, CIA, FBI and NSA, excluding 13 of the then-17 intelligence agencies.

He sidelined the National Intelligence Council and forced the inclusion of the discredited Steele dossier despite objections of the authors and senior CIA Russia experts, so as to push a false narrative that Russia secured Trump’s 2016 victory.

“This was Obama, Comey, Clapper and Brennan deciding ‘We’re going to screw Trump,’” said Ratcliffe in an exclusive interview.

James Comey makes appearance with his father at New Jersey parish

Tuesday, June 13, 2017 4:29 PM


Days after the dramatic testimony of his firing and dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump, former FBI Director James Comey made an appearance at a Catholic church on Holy Trinity Sunday, accompanying his father to Mass at a New Jersey parish.

The (Bergen) Record newspaper, via its website www.northjersey.com, released video of Comey and his wife accompanying his father to Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Allendale, a borough of Bergen County in northern New Jersey.

Though Comey did not respond to questions from a reporter outside the church, the video shows a group of teens outside Guardian Angel Church June 11 introducing themselves to the former FBI man who was fired by Trump May 9. The teens stop to pose for photos with Comey, who keeps an eye on his father heading for a car using a walker.

Comey, who was appointed FBI director by President Barack Obama in 2013, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee June 8 that Trump had asked him to pledge his loyalty but he had refused. Comey said the president also told him he hoped the agency would drop the investigation of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, after allegations of his questionable dealings with foreign governments. One day after Comey's testimony, the president denied Comey's account of events.

On the same day Comey was visiting his father, the president, too, found himself in New Jersey and took to Twitter to denounce his former FBI director and said what Comey had done was "cowardly."

The newspaper story said Comey regularly attended the Catholic church he visited June 11 when he was a boy, but the United Methodist Church claims him and his family as members. In a 2013 news release, the United Methodist Church said the Comeys are active members of the Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington and the former director and his wife, Patrice, have taught Sunday school.

Rhina Guidos | Catholic News Service





Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington June 8. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters)

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