Justice Department Watchdog Probes Comey Memos Over Classified Information

[anatta]

At least two of the memos that former FBI Director James Comey gave to a friend outside of the government contained information that officials now consider classified, according to people familiar with the matter, prompting a review by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog.

Of those two memos, Mr. Comey himself redacted elements of one that he knew to be classified to protect secrets before he handed the documents over to his friend. He determined at the time that another memo contained no classified information, but after he left the Federal Bureau of Investigation, bureau officials upgraded it to “confidential,” the lowest level of classification.

The Justice Department inspector general is now conducting an investigation into classification issues related to the Comey memos, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Comey has said he considered the memos personal rather than government documents. He has told Congress that he wrote them and authorized their release to the media “as a private citizen.”

Mr. Comey gave four total memos to his friend Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professor at Columbia Law School, people familiar with the matter said. Three were considered unclassified at the time and the one was that was classified contained the redactions made by Mr. Comey.

As FBI director, Mr. Comey had the legal authority to determine what bureau information was classified and what wasn’t. Once he left government, however, the determination fell to other officials. The FBI deemed the memos classified sometime during 2017, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused Mr. Comey of mishandling classified information in a bid to discredit the former FBI director, whom he fired last year. The public feud between the two men has intensified this week, as Mr. Comey has granted several interviews while promoting a memoir that is highly critical of Mr. Trump.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice...ion-1524243505

[anatta]

The Journal noted that Comey himself redacted classified elements in one of those memos, and another memo had material later upgraded by the FBI to “confidential” (a low classification level).

They apparently were among the four memos Comey gave to friend Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.

In the seven total memos handed over to congressional committees, eight of the 15 pages have redactions under classified exceptions. They include classified information at one of the most sensitive levels -- SECRET -- as well as the lower level of confidential.

In one memo documenting his January 2017 Trump Tower meeting, Comey wrote that the material should be classified at the SECRET level unless the intelligence agencies thought otherwise.

“I am not sure of the proper classification here,” Comey writes, “so have chosen SECRET. Please let me know if it should be higher or lower than that.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...-material.html

[anatta]

Comey clears HRClinton of "gross negligence" handling of her Email-changing the draft to extreme carelesness.
He claims no intent, though the statute specifically does not require intent . Then he intentionally leaks to cause a Special Counsel to investigate Trump. What goes around comes around. sublime karma

[Stretch]

Comey clears HRClinton of "gross negligence" handling of her Email-changing the draft to extreme carelesness.
He claims no intent, though the statute specifically does not require intent . Then he intentionally leaks to cause a Special Counsel to investigate Trump. What goes around comes around. sublime karma

[volsrock]

but but but . . Uh . . STORMY !!!! And pee pee

[volsrock]

If Comey gave these to ANYONE in without redaction, it's a felony. No ifs, ands or buts.

What's worse is the specific reason he gave for committing the felony was to sick a special counsel on POTUS.

All this knowing the Steele dossier was garbage.

Comey is seditious criminal.

[Cypress]

Justice Department Watchdog Probes Comey Memos Over Classified Information

This actually reminds me a lot of the stories I heard from relatives about how the NKVD, Soviet State security apparatus, and Soviet legal system were used to harass, intimidate, and jail political opponents.

[anatta]

we just call it Deep State shenanigans.

Brennan leaked the Steele dossier to CNN- but CNN would not run it ( CNN was not alone)
Comey said something in his memo about a "news hook" - basically the briefing to Trump ( at Clapper's urging) was leaked
and that made the Steele dossier "newsworthy" ( the hook)

CNN immediately did a story about Russians having dirt on Trump....Buzzfeed released the entire doc..off we go.

[Nordberg]

Comey released no classified anything. This is another dead end. His notes showed that.

[Stretch]

Comey released no classified anything. This is another dead end. His notes showed that.

What was redacted on them then?

[anatta]

What was redacted on them then?

nothing. DoJ redacted the memos to Congress