The Columbia law professor James Comey used as a go-between last year
to leak the contents of sensitive memos to the media confirmed to Fox
News on Tuesday that he previously worked as a “special government
employee” (SGE) for Comey’s FBI on an unpaid basis.
The professor, Daniel Richman, confirmed the special
status in response to an inquiry from Fox News, while referring other
questions, including on the scope of his work, to the FBI.
"I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay)," Richman wrote in an email.
Richman emerged last year as the former FBI director’s
contact for leaking memos documenting his private discussions with
President Trump – memos that are now the subject of an inspector general
review over the presence of classified material. Sources familiar
with Richman’s status at the FBI told Fox News that he was assigned to
"special projects" by Comey, and had a security clearance as well
as badge access to the building. Richman’s status was the subject of
a Memorandum of Understanding.
Sources familiar with Daniel Richman’s status at the FBI
told Fox News that he was assigned to "special projects" by Comey, and
had a security clearance as well as badge access to the building.
While Richman's portfolio included the use of encrypted
communications by terror suspects, the sources said
Richman also was sent talking points about the FBI's handling of
the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Those talking points attempted
to compare and contrast Clinton's use of an unsecured personal server
exclusively for government business with the case of retired Gen.David
Petraeus, who shared classified information with his biographer and
mistress Paula Broadwell, as well as the case brought against the
late Sandy Berger. The former national security adviser under President
Clinton pleaded guilty to the unauthorized removal and retention of
classified material from the National Archives.
Incidentally, another “special government employee” who
has come under scrutiny was Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Sen.
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, among others, previously questioned Abedin's
special status that allowed her to work at the Clinton State Department
and private-sector entities at the same time.
Lawmakers are only beginning to raise questions about
Richman’s status. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Fox News’ “Sunday
Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” said the information about
Richman and his special FBI status first emerged during closed-door
testimony by Comey's former chief of staff James Rybicki before the
House oversight and judiciary committees.
"[D]uring that deposition, it was brought out that
Daniel Richman, the guy who information was leaked through to The New
York Times, had this special status called special government employee
status, where he could sort of come and go in the FBI,” Jordan said. He
said he could not speak to the significance, but "it seems kind of
interesting that the guy who Comey leaks to is a good friend, who had
this sort of unfettered access into the FBI."
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., also raised questions about the status.
"It's certainly interesting that Director Comey would
offer a special job and give full access to his friend when there are
35,000 employees at the FBI. And it isn't just that he gave these memos
to a friend--he gave them to another FBI employee he had hand-picked to
act as a 'special government employee' of the FBI. The question becomes:
how many other people did he give these memos to?" he told Fox News in a
statement.
According to the Office of Government Ethics, a special
government employee is "an officer or employee who is retained,
designated, appointed, or employed to perform temporary duties, with or
without compensation, for not more than 130 days during any period of
365 consecutive days."
Fox News first reached out on Friday to
Richman, who initially declined to comment on his special status with
the FBI. Based on new information, Fox Newson Tuesday provided detailed
questions about his responsibilities under the "special
projects" portfolio -- and whether they included the Clinton
investigation, the Russian counter-intelligence probe, andcontact with
the media on behalf of senior FBI leadership.
Similar questions were provided to the publisher of Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty." There was no immediate response.
Richman does appear in cryptic text messages between
demoted FBI agent Peter Strzok and re-assigned FBI lawyer Lisa Page
on Nov. 2, 2016 a week before the election. Texting about a New York
Times report, Page writes, "Jesus. Another article pushed by nyt on
this. Richman is a friend of Comey and [former FBI general counsel
James] baker.”
This may be a reference to a Nov. 1, 2016 story
headlined, "FBI's Email Disclosure Broke a Pattern Followed Even This
Summer,” that quotes Richman on Comey's decision to re-open the Clinton
email case before the election.
He says in the article, “Those arguing that the
director should have remained silent until the new emails could be
reviewed — even if that process lasted, or was delayed, until after
the election — give too little thought to the governing that needs to
happen after November. If the F.B.I. director doesn’t have the
credibility tokeep Congress from interfering in the bureau’s work and to
assure Congress that a matter has been or is being looked into, the new
administration will pay a highprice.”
Richman’s Columbia bio page says he “served as a
consultant to the Department of Justice” and he is “currently an adviser
to FBI Director James B. Comey.”
Fox News first reached out to the FBI on Monday about
Richman’s status and followed up Tuesday with detailed
questions -- regarding his responsibilities under the “special projects”
mandate, his security clearance, physical access to the bureau and
whether he was the only special government employee during Comey's
tenure. The FBI had no comment on Richman or Fox News' specific
questions about his work for the bureau. A spokesperson said the FBI has
employed a number of “special government employees” on an unpaid basis,
and challenged the notion anyone has “unfettered” FBI access.