by WorldTribune Staff, January 4, 2018
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said former FBI Director James Comey leaked classified information after he was fired by President Donald Trump.
Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican, said Comey leaked four memos to Columbia University law professor Daniel Richman, who shared them with The New York Times.
Comey said he wrote the memos after interactions with Trump.
At least one of the memos contained restricted information, Grassley said.
Richman, who refused to give the memos to Grassley’s committee, said he turned them over to the special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and the FBI, which has provided limited access to Grassley. At least one of the memos had information marked at the “secret” level, which is above “confidential” but below “top secret.”
In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Grassley demanded answers.
“Has there been any review of whether the disclosure of the memoranda by Comey was otherwise improper, such as whether it violated his employment agreement or any Department rule or policy? If so, what is the status of the review? If not, why not?” Grassley wrote.
Grassley said he has personally reviewed the memos, but was forced to do so in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).
“The FBI insisted that these reviews take place in a SCIF because the majority of the memos are classified,” he said. “FBI personnel refused to answer factual questions during the document reviews, including questions about the chain of custody of the documents I was reviewing, the date that they were marked classified, and who marked them as classified.”
During the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Comey said information can be classified even if it isn’t properly marked as such at the time.
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