Fired FBI Director James Comey may have dodged a legal bullet with the recent revelation that he wouldn’t face criminal prosecution for leaking classified information and lying to investigators about it, but he isn’t in the clear yet.
Comey’s future, and whether that future includes time in jail or not, appears to now be dependent upon how Attorney General William Barr reacts to the information that will soon be presented to him by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz and U.S. Attorney John Durham.
No prosecution for leaking and lying
According to the Washington Examiner, Horowitz, as part of his investigation into past potential wrongdoing by Comey’s FBI, issued a criminal referral against Comey for leaking memos that contained classified information and for a “lack of candor” when pressed by investigators about those leaked memos.
Those memos, parts of which were published by The New York Times, were leaked shortly after Comey was fired in 2017 by President Donald Trump and served as the impetus for the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
However, despite the criminal referral from Horowitz against Comey, it has been reported that the Justice Department declined to prosecute Comey on those particular charges, reportedly citing a lack of evidence of intent. It appears Comey will continue to walk free for the time being.
Investigating the investigators
Comey may not want to wander too far, though. The Examiner noted that the criminal referral over leaking and lying is just a “narrow slice” of a much larger investigatory pie being baked by Barr, Durham, and Horowitz, one that is reportedly just about ready to be served.
The larger investigation is looking into alleged wrongdoing by Comey’s FBI before and after the 2016 election, specifically with regard to the bureau’s use of the dubious “dossier” compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele on behalf of then-candidate Hillary Clinton.
By all accounts, it appears that the still-unverified dossier of purported Russian-provided intelligence was used by Comey’s FBI as a basis to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court warrant to spy on marginal members of then-candidate Trump’s campaign.
The potentially fraudulent FISA warrant, as well as the dossier’s rumors and innuendo upon which the warrant was based, in turn, fueled wholly speculative media reports meant to disparage Trump and hamstring his campaign and administration with allegations of ties to Russia.
Waiting on Horowitz and Durham
Barr has already made it clear to Congress, the media, and the general public that, based on what he has already seen thus far, he is convinced that “spying did occur” by the Obama administration against the Trump campaign and incoming Trump administration.
The attorney general was further granted the authority to declassify any and all material he comes across related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation that may prove as much.
It would appear that the only thing holding up Barr from releasing such information and proceeding with criminal prosecutions against individuals like Comey is that he is still waiting for Horowitz to conclude his review and issue a final report, which is now expected to be released around Labor Day.
Furthermore, Barr is likely also waiting for Durham, who has been tasked to investigate similar matters alongside Horowitz — the IG focuses more on rules violations, while the prosecutor looks at crimes — to finish up his own probe into the alleged wrongdoings of Comey’s crew.
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