Thread by @themarketswork

1) My latest @EpochTimes - Details from the IG’s Report on Former FBI Director James Comey

theepochtimes.com/details-from-t…

2) On May 14, 2017, Comey provided electronic copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to one of his personal attorneys, who subsequently shared the memos with two additional attorneys several days later on May 17, 2017.

3) Comey provided a copy of Memo 4 to Daniel Richman, who was a “close personal friend” in addition to being one of Comey’s attorneys. Comey directed Richman to “share the contents of Memo 4, but not the Memo itself, with a specific reporter for The New York Times.”

4) The same day that Comey’s two additional attorneys gained access to his Memos, Strzok sent a text to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, noting “F’in Pamela Brown knows there were two phone call memos.”

https://twitter.com/nick_weil/status/1167100059260878849

5) Brown, a reporter for CNN, had reported on the existence of Comey Memos, the night prior during a segment with Anderson Cooper, but had yet to mention the phone call memos.
transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/17…

6) Brown had to have learned of the “phone call Memos” from a source other than Richman—who had only received a copy of Memo 4 which detailed a physical meeting and did not mention any “phone call Memos.”

It is not known who provided Brown with the additional information.

7) The FBI “first learned that Comey had shared Memo 4 with Richman while watching Comey's public testimony before SSCI on June 8, 2017.”

Nor did Comey inform the FBI that he had shared Memos 2, 4, 6 and 7 with his personal attorneys.

8) The June 8, 2017, date is particularly notable because only the day before, on June 7, 2017, Comey provided the copy of his Memos that he kept in his home safe to the FBI at the request of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

9) “On 6-7-17, "Comey provided the SSA who came to his home with Comey’s signed originals of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7, which were the only Memos that Comey said he had retained at his residence.”

10) Comey told the IG that “he voluntarily gave his signed originals of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to the SSA at his house that day, not because he had concerns that they contained classified information, but “because Special Counsel [Robert Mueller] asked for them.”

11) How the Special Counsel came to learn that Comey had a personal copy of his Memos at his house remains unknown, particularly as it appears that no one within the FBI was aware of this fact until Comey turned the Memos over.

12) Comey viewed the FBI copies of his Memos that had been officially classified by the FBI, on June 7, 2017, in preparation for his June 8 testimony.

As a result, Comey was now aware of what the FBI deemed “SECRET” or “CONFIDENTIAL.”

13) “By not immediately reporting that he had provided Memo 2 to his attorneys when Comey first learned that the FBI had designated a small portion of Memo 2 as classified at the “CONFIDENTIAL” level, Comey violated FBI policy.”

14) Others within the FBI also had copies of Comey’s Memos.

“Page told the OIG that McCabe also allowed her to look at Memos 2, 3, and 4, but asked her not to share them with anybody. Page told the IG that “she decided to make and keep copies of these Memos."

15) Page seems to have hidden her possession of Comey’s Memos from other FBI officials

Rybicki was “surprised” when he learned that Page already had copies of some of the Memos because he “didn't think anybody maintained a copy” other than him, and didn't know how she got them.”

16) Comey said he considered “Memos 2 through 7 to be his personal documents,” but this assertion was roundly dismissed by other FBI officials.

According to the IG, “All of the FBI senior leaders interviewed by the OIG stated that the Memos were official government records.”

17) “Shortly after Comey’s removal, a set of the seven Memos was provided to the OIG by a Department employee, who claimed whistleblower status.”

This means that the IG obtained possession of the Comey Memos very early on—since mid-May 2017.

18) IG revealed that it was then-Acting FBI Director McCabe, who referred the matter of Comey’s Memos to the Office of the Inspector General for review in July 2017.

McCabe may have been unaware that the IG already was in possession of Comey’s Memos via the unknown whistleblower

19) Comey told the IG that it was his Jan. 27, 2017 dinner with President Trump that prompted him to begin the process of maintaining Memos.

However, Comey had already written an earlier Memo regarding a meeting with President Trump on Jan. 6, 2017.

20) Comey also told Congress a slightly different story, testifying on June 8, 2017, that he began creating Memos from his very first interaction with President Trump, based on a “gut feeling."
politico.com/story/2017/06/…

21) FBI General Counsel James Baker, told the IG that “it was his understanding that the small group of people who had access to the Memos “really didn't want anyone to know the Director...was recording at this level of detail his interactions with the President”

22) It should also be noted that Comey failed to keep any Memos of his meetings with Obama and other Obama-era officials.

23) Memo 3 was deemed to contain information classified at the “SECRET” level.

In regards to this particular Memo, Comey told the IG that he gave one copy to Rybicki, with instructions for Rybicki to show it to McCabe and Baker, while keeping the other copy in his desk drawer.

24) On May 10, 2017, the day immediately following Comey’s firing, a Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) was assigned to inventory the contents of Comey’s office.

As noted in the IG report “According to the inventory, no hard copies of any of the Memos were found in Comey's office.”

25) Five days later, on 5-15-17, following a conversation with Comey, Rybicki notified the SSA that there “were additional documents belonging to Comey stored in the reception area near the former Director's office.”

Among these documents were six of the original Comey Memos.

26) According to the IG, this was the first time the SSA learned of the existence of the Comey Memos.

Rybicki told the SSA that “he did not tell anyone about the Memos during the May 10 inventory because he understood that process to only include Comey's office.”

27) The IG found that "Comey’s actions violated Department or FBI policy, or the terms of Comey’s FBI Employment Agreement” and concluded that “Comey’s retention, handling, and dissemination of certain Memos violated Department and FBI policies, and his FBI Employment Agreement."

28) The IG pointedly noted that “Comey failed to live up to this responsibility.”

“By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example..."

29) The IG provided a copy of his findings to the DOJ for a prosecutorial decision regarding Comey’s conduct.

The DOJ declined prosecution.

This had been previously reported.

30) Despite the many negative findings, Comey’s Memos were only classified by the FBI after Comey had leaked them.

Additionally, the IG found no proof that “Comey or his attorneys released any of the classified information contained in any of the Memos to members of the media.”

31) A failed prosecution at this juncture would prove problematic to the overall investigation of Spygate and the Inspector General’s pending report on FISA abuse is far more important and potentially significantly more damning.

Hopefully more to come.

/End