Judicial Watch: Justice Department Argues Comey's Leak of 'Flynn' Memo to New York Times was Unauthorized, Compares Comey to Wikileaks
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2017 /
Christian Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch announced today that the Justice Department is now comparing former FBI Director James Comey to WikiLeaks. After Comey was fired by President Trump on May 9, 2017, he gave the New York Times a February 14, 2017, memorandum written about a one-on-one conversation he had with President Trump regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Judicial Watch is asking a federal court to order the release of all Comey's unclassified memoranda about his one-on-one conversations with the president.
Comey
testified under oath before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that he authored as many as nine such memos about his one-on-one conversations with President Trump. He also
admitted, regarding the "Flynn" memo, "I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter [for
The New York Times] … I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel."
The New York Times published a report about the memo on May 16, 2017. Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed the following day.
On June 16, 2017, Judicial Watch
filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the Department of Justice failed to respond to a May 16 FOIA request (
Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:17-cv-01189)). Judicial Watch seeks:
FBI Director James Comey's February 14, 2017 memorandum…memorializing an Oval Office conversation he had with the President on that date regarding former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
In its lawsuit Judicial Watch
refutes the Justice Department's claim of exemption for law enforcement purposes:
Ex-Director Comey plainly did not use the February 14 Memo for any recognized or legitimate law enforcement purpose. He used it to settle a score with the President, who had just
fired him.
Judicial Watch argues that if disclosure of the "Flynn" memo would harm the Russia investigation, then the Justice Department should have taken steps to "address Ex-Director Comey's removal of the memo from the FBI, leaking of the memo to the media, and subsequent testimony about the memo, to the extent that testimony was unauthorized and not coordinated with [the Justice Department], the FBI, and/or Special Counsel Mueller. Removal of government records is a federal offense." While the Justice Department compares Comey to WikiLeaks, it makes no claim to have addressed Comey's misconduct. Judicial Watch points out that its "failure to do so further undercuts any claim of harm" to an ongoing law enforcement investigation.
