The Department of Justice Inspector General’s damning report rebukes former FBI Director James Comey for several instances where he ran afoul of Bureau policy, most of them related to his retention and release of several confidential memos detailing his conversations with President Donald Trump.
Among the violations cited in the report, released Thursday:
- “Comey did not seek authorization from the FBI before providing Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to his attorneys.” (Page 2)
- “Comey did not seek FBI authorization before providing the contents of Memo 4, through Richman, to a reporter.” (Page 2)
- “After his removal as FBI Director, Comey violated applicable policies and his Employment Agreement by failing to either surrender his copies of Memos 2, 4, 6, and 7 to the FBI or seek authorization to retain them.” (Page 52)
- “Despite knowledge that Memo 3 contained classified information, Comey did not appropriately mark Memo 3 with classification banners, portion markings, or a classification authority block.” (Page 53)
- “Comey was not authorized to disclose the statements he attributed to President Trump in Memo 4, which Comey viewed as evidence of an alleged attempt to obstruct the Flynn investigation and which were relevant to the ongoing Flynn investigation.” (Page 56)
- “Once he knew that the FBI had classified portions of Memo 2, Comey failed to immediately notify the FBI that he had previously given Memo 2 to his attorneys.” (Page 59)
- “Even when these employees believe that their most strongly-held personal convictions might be served by an unauthorized disclosure, the FBI depends on them not to disclose sensitive information. Former Director Comey failed to live up to this responsibility.” (Page 60)