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The White House released a trove of documents showing that the FBI opened a 2017 investigation into whether President Donald Trump was acting on behalf of or under the influence of Russia when he fired FBI Director James Comey.
The investigation, codenamed “Oxferd Comma,” opened after Trump fired Comey in May 2017, according to the White House’s release.
Investigators sought to determine whether Trump 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,” according to an FBI memo dated May 16, 2017. The memo also said investigators would examine whether Trump or others had obstructed or conspired to obstruct an associated FBI investigation.
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The opening memo cited information developed during Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into whether individuals associated with Trump’s 2016 campaign were coordinating with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.
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It also identified later events and information, including Trump’s interactions with Comey, the administration’s shifting explanations for Comey’s firing, Trump campaign discussions concerning the Republican platform’s language on Ukraine aid and Trump’s business ties and real estate interests involving Russia.
SECRET FBI PROBE CAST TRUMP AS POSSIBLE RUSSIAN ASSET AFTER COMEY FIRING, MEMOS SHOW
Trump initially cited Comey’s handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state as the reason for his ouster, though he later said the Russia investigation was also on his mind when he made the decision.
The FBI memo said the circumstances surrounding Comey’s dismissal could support an inference that the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in Trump’s decision to fire Comey.
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However, the decision to open the investigation did not mean those suspicions had been substantiated.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, appointed in 2017 to investigate Russian election interference, reported in 2019 that his team did not establish coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia and did not make a prosecutorial decision on obstruction. Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham to review the origins and handling of the FBI’s Russia investigation in 2019. Durham’s 2023 report concluded that the FBI opened the full Crossfire Hurricane investigation without sufficient evidentiary support and did not apply the same rigor it had used in other sensitive investigations.
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A separate 2019 Justice Department inspector general review found the FBI had enough information under its rules to open Crossfire Hurricane, though it later identified serious errors and omissions in surveillance applications involving former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
A review of the White House’s original release shows the code name rendered as “Oxferd Comma,” with the letter “o.” Former acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark, who served in Trump’s first administration, said a document expert he consulted concluded the “o” in “Comma” found within the FBI documents was a zero. Clark speculated the unusual spelling was intended to make the records harder to find through FOIA searches.
The documents were published by the White House Wednesday, which said they had been declassified and released through its Government Transparency Task Force.
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