Newly Found Notes Undercut Comey as DOJ Ties Clinton Plan Intel to Obstruction

By Jerry Dunleavy | Just the News

The Justice Department failed to secure an indictment against ex-FBI Director James Comey charging him with lying when he claimed that he did not recall a CIA referral memo on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign plan to tie Donald Trump to Russia. But the DOJ is now revealing the false-statements allegation will still be used to support its successful indictment charging Comey with obstructing Congress.

The DOJ’s two-count indictment, approved by a federal grand jury in September, stemmed from allegations that Comey misled the Senate during his testimony in late September 2020, when he reiterated his May 2017 denial that he had never authorized a leak of information to the media about the Trump-Russia investigation or Clinton-related investigations, when the DOJ says he in fact authorized his friend, confidante, and Special Government employee Dan Richman to leak to the media about the FBI’s Hillary Clinton investigation. The indictment also alleged that Comey had obstructed Congress by lying to the Senate. 

The foreperson for the grand jury told the judge in September that, in addition to approving the two charges, “grand jurors did not concur in finding an indictment in this case” related to the DOJ’s allegation that Comey had also lied when he claimed before the Senate in September 2020 that he did not remember the CIA referral about the Clinton Plan intelligence.

But the Justice Department revealed in court filings late last week that the approved congressional obstruction count against Comey not only focuses on the ex-bureau chief allegedly misleading about authorizing media leaks but “also rests on the defendant’s statements to Senators [Lindsey] Graham and [Josh] Hawley regarding his alleged lack of memory on the so-called Clinton plan to ‘tie Trump’ to Russia.”

Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 public report revealed that “the Intelligence Community received the Clinton Plan intelligence in late July 2016.” 

The intelligence related to an alleged plan by the Clinton campaign to attempt to link Trump to Russia and Vladimir Putin in an effort to distract from her private email server scandal. The Durham report showed that Comey was briefed on the Clinton Plan intelligence by then-CIA Director John Brennan in early August 2016 and was also sent a CIA referral memo about the Clinton Plan intelligence in early September 2016.

Nevertheless, Comey repeatedly told the Senate Judiciary Committee in late September 2020 that he did not recall the referral memo from the CIA. The Trump DOJ’s efforts to indict Comey over that piece of his testimony as a third count failed, but it appears the DOJ is incorporating that bit of Comey’s alleged wrongdoing into its grand jury-approved congressional obstruction indictment.

Comey, fired as FBI director in 2017 by President Trump, oversaw the politicized investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server to send classified information and the baseless Trump-Russia collusion inquiry.

The indictments were brought by interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan. The former personal Donald Trump lawyer and White House aide was sworn in in September, shortly before obtaining the indictments against Comey.

The former bureau chief did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him through his lawyer, former DOJ veteran Patrick Fitzgerald.

Grand jury approves two counts — but rejects third

The successful indictment specified two counts: False statements within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the United States Government (18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2)) and Obstruction of a Congressional proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1505).

The indictment alleges that Comey “did willfully and knowingly make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the Government of the United States, by falsely stating to a U.S. Senator during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that he, [Comey] had not ‘authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports’ regarding an FBI investigation concerning PERSON 1.” 

The identity of “Person 1” has been revealed to be Hillary Clinton.

The second count of the indictment charges that Comey engaged in “obstruction of a Congressional proceeding” because he “did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct, and impede the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which an investigation was being had before the Senate Judiciary Committee by making false and misleading statements before that committee.”

A court filing in September also included a “Report of a Grand Jury’s Failure to Concur in an Indictment.” The foreperson of the grand jury, in Alexandria, Virginia, had told the court that “12 or more grand jurors did not concur in finding an indictment in this case.” A handwritten note specified that the rejection of an indictment was only for the count related to Comey’s denial about remembering the Clinton Plan intelligence referral.

DOJ uses allegations from failed third count to buttress obstruction count

The count rejected by the grand jury alleged violation of the same law upon which the grand jury also approved another count, namely, “false statements within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch of the United States Government.”

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