The professor who helped former FBI Director James Comey leak memos detailing his conversations with President Trump to the media has confirmed he was a “special government employee.”
“I did indeed have SGE status with the Bureau (for no pay),” Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor, confirmed in an email to Fox News on Tuesday.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Comey tasked Richman with “special projects,” and he had security clearance and access to the building. Additionally, Richman was provided talking points detailing how the agency was managing the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Richman’s status recently attracted the attention of lawmakers. Sunday, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said during an interview with Fox News that details about Richman’s special FBI status initially were raised at a testimony before the House Oversight and Judiciary panels with Comey’s former chief of staff, James Rybicki.
“[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, adding, “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.”
Last week it was revealed the Justice Department’s inspector general is conducting an investigation into whether Comey leaked classified information when he shared several memos with Richman. Redacted versions of the memos were released last week after the DOJ sent them to Congress.
Comey, who was fired as FBI director last May, is in the middle of a publicity tour for his newly released book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.
