James Comey testifies before Congress in March 2017 after his misleading “Gang of Eight” private briefing for top lawmakers. (Credit: AP)
Federal prosecutors gathered evidence from James Comey’s top lieutenants that he authorized the leak of classified information to reporters just before the 2016 election but declined to bring criminal charges, according to recently declassified memos that call into question the former FBI director’s testimony to Congress.
James Rybicki (Credit: The Associated Press)
The bombshell revelations involving ex-FBI general counsel James Baker and ex-Comey chief of staff James Rybicki were memorialized in documents that FBI Director Kash Patel discovered earlier this year, but the passages were originally redacted by the Justice Department in versions sent to Congress earlier this month.
Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened and eliminated the redactions, dispatching new versions of the memos this week to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, officials told Just the News.
The memos detail evidence and interviews gathered by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents concerning classified information leaked to The New York Times in October 2016, ahead of the November election in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.
James Baker (Credit: Twitter)
“The USPIS Investigation also revealed Baker disclosed USG [U.S. government] classified information to the NYT under the belief he was ultimately instructed and authorized to do so by then FBI Director James Comey,” one summary memo reads. “For example, during interviews, Baker indicated FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki instructed him (Baker) to disclose the information to the NYT, and Baker understood Rybicki was conveying this instruction and authorization from Comey.”
The memos don’t identify the specific pieces of classified information that were leaked or whether Comey or anyone else was authorized to declassify them for the media. But they were investigated by multiple prosecutors, including the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., under Trump’s first administration and by future-special prosecutor John Durham, and all declined to bring criminal charges, the memos show.
Bondi told Just the News on Thursday she was committed to bringing accountability for the yet unpunished leaks.
“This document produced at my direction confirms what many Americans have long suspected: former FBI Director James Comey and his chief of staff engaged in abhorrent conduct,” she said. “There must be accountability for those who were entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s secrets and failed to do so.”
Comey previously denied during congressional testimony that he had ever been a source in news articles related to the FBI’s investigations into Trump and Clinton and further denied that he had ever approved of anyone else at the FBI being such a source. He has long denied any wrongdoing and insisted he has been politically attacked because he stood up to Trump.
Patel told Just the News the evidence he uncovered raised concerns that one of his predecessors may have authorized illegal leaks and lied about it.
“These newly declassified memos show how former FBI leadership authorized classified leaks and withheld the truth from Congress and the American people,” he said. “Thanks to President Trump’s commitment to transparency, the cover-up is being exposed. The public deserves nothing less than full accountability.”
You can read the declassified FBI memos here:
Declassified FBI Memos – Tropic Vortex Investigation – Baker, Rybicki, and Comey
A recent barrage of declassified documents showing Comey and current Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., may have been behind national security leaks over the last decade designed to harm Trump may prove more than just an exercise in historical accountability.
Legal experts say the statute of limitations for prosecution under espionage laws for leaks back in 2016 or 2017 can be extended to 10 years if the act was knowing and willful and harmed national security or was part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy that continued into the last five years. (Read more: Just the News, 8/21/2025) (Archive)