By John Solomon
In May 2017, the FBI initiated a criminal investigation targeting Donald Trump, asserting that the then-newly elected president might have been acting as a Russian asset when he dismissed James Comey from his role as Director. This decision came despite the bureau’s own findings at the time, which largely indicated no collusion with the Kremlin.
Newly declassified internal FBI memos from the White House reveal that the investigation, named Oxferd Comma, commenced immediately after Comey’s firing on May 9, 2017. The investigation was based on an allegation that had largely been dismissed by the bureau’s agents, according to previously released records.
The electronic communication from May 16, 2017, stated, “The FBI is opening a full investigation based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States.”
The memo added, “The goal of the investigation is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes. In addition, this investigation will also seek to determine whether President Trump and others yet to be named obstructed and/or conspired to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.”
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OXFERD COMMA – Opening EC – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26.pdf
The memo, drafted by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, highlighted concerns over Russian influence and obstruction, including Trump’s public reasons for dismissing Comey.
The memo stated, “This alternative explanation can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey.”
Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were informed about the launch of the probe, as shown in the memos.
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OXFERD COMMA – FBI Informs DOJ – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26.pdf
The investigation was labeled a “sensitive investigative matter” by the FBI, claiming it was “the least intrusive method to address the serious national security risk posed by the activities alleged.”
However, this decision resulted in the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller by Rosenstein, leading to a nearly two-year investigation that hindered the beginning of Trump’s presidency. Despite this, Mueller’s team, like the FBI before them, found no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.
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In 2023, a subsequent investigation by Special Counsel John Durham, released by the Biden Justice Department, concluded there was no justification for the FBI to have opened the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation into Trump-Russia collusion.
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The newly declassified Oxferd Comma memos indicate the case was closed on April 9, 2019, a few weeks after Mueller’s investigation concluded with a final report and no charges against Trump.
The closing memo noted, “The Special Counsel provided the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining his prosecution and declination decisions.”
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OXFERD COMMA – Closing communication – redacted and declassified by FBI 7.30.26.pdf
The memos are being released amid reports of federal prosecutors in Fort Pierce, Fla., investigating whether the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence agencies engaged in a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump and his followers through repeated criminal investigations lacking evidence of wrongdoing.
The FBI was known to have considered investigating Trump’s dismissal of Comey as an obstruction act, which contributed to Mueller’s appointment as special counsel.
Records later showed that Comey was dismissed on valid grounds as the DOJ believed he mishandled the Hillary Clinton email investigation. The department’s independent inspector general concluded that Comey “violated long-standing department practice and protocol” in his conduct in the Clinton case.
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DOJOIGReportComeyClintonCase.pdf
The new FBI memos, identified and declassified by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, reveal for the first time that the FBI based the obstruction case against Trump—codenamed Oxferd Comma—on concerns that the president might have been an asset of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
However, earlier FBI and DOJ records demonstrate that the notion of Trump as a Russian asset had already been largely dismissed by agents and analysts involved in the Crossfire Hurricane case, which investigated Russia-Trump collusion.
In fact, Pete Strzok, the lead agent in the Crossfire Hurricane case, texted his colleague the same week that Oxferd Comma was opened, expressing skepticism about the allegations. “I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there,” he wrote to FBI special counsel Lisa Page on May 19, 2017.
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Strzok Page text messages 5-19-17 – No Big There.pdf
Strzok’s sentiments were supported by Special Agent William Barnett, who later informed the Justice Department that by early 2017, the FBI had mostly dismissed the idea that the Trump campaign, including figures like Mike Flynn, Carter Page, and George Papadopoulos, had colluded with the Kremlin, according to a 2020-released FBI interview report of Barnett.
The summary of Barnett’s interview stated, “BARNETT still did not see any evidence of collusion between the TRUMP Campaign and the Russian Government.”
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FBIAgentBarnettInterviewNoCollusion.pdf
By the time the FBI depicted Trump as being influenced by Putin to justify the Oxferd Comma investigation, it had already become aware that initial collusion allegations originated from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. These were funneled to the FBI via a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, paid by Clinton’s campaign law firm. The contents of the Steele dossier were largely unverified or debunked, and considered part of a political strategy.
Concerns about this began in late summer 2016, when CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama and the FBI on intelligence that Hillary Clinton planned to create a scandal alleging Trump was conspiring with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Brennan’s notes of his conversation with Obama stated, “We’re getting additional insight into Russian activities from [REDACTED],” and summarized a proposal allegedly approved by Clinton to vilify Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming Russian interference.
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Brennan Notes-CIA Brief to Obama.pdf
This intelligence, indicating Clinton’s plan to “smear” Trump, was shared directly with the FBI, including Comey, during an Aug. 3, 2016 briefing, as noted in a classified annex to a DOJ report made public the previous year. This briefing occurred four days after the launch of the Crossfire Hurricane probe into the alleged Russia collusion.
The annex noted, “On August 3, 2016, during a meeting at the White House, CIA Director Brennan briefed President Obama, Vice President Biden, DNI Clapper, FBI Director Comey, and other U.S. officials regarding Russian interference efforts as well as the T1 intelligence received concerning the referenced plan by the Clinton campaign.”
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declassified_durham_annex_released_by_chairman_grassley.pdf
By early 2017, well before the Oxferd Comma probe’s inception, the FBI had already assessed the Steele dossier’s statements, concluding many were false or unverifiable, according to an analyst-created spreadsheet.
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Some sources in the dossier distanced themselves from Steele’s claims. Notably, Steele’s primary subsource, Igor Danchenko, had been suspected of being a Russian asset for years.
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AG Letter to Chairman Graham 9.24.2020.pdf
In a February 2017 FBI interview, Danchenko admitted that some information attributed to him in the Steele dossier was mere hearsay, as revealed in FBI interview memos from 2020.
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170209-danchenko-interviews.pdf
By early January 2017, the FBI had also cleared Mike Flynn, another target of the Russia collusion probe. A January 4, 2017, FBI memo stated, “No derogatory information was reported back to the FBI,” closing down the Flynn investigation.
Despite clearing him, the FBI invited Flynn for an interview and later charged him with making false statements. This approach raised concerns among some agents, including Priestap, the FBI’s counterintelligence chief.
Priestap questioned the objective, writing, “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
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In a later FBI interview, Agent Barnett characterized the Russia collusion investigation as a misguided attempt to “get Trump,” likening it to a flawed version of the game Clue.
The interview summary stated, “BARNETT and others joked about how the investigation into collusion could be made into a game, which they referred to as ‘Collusion Clue.’ In the hypothetical game, investigators are able to choose any character conducting any activity, in any location, and pair this individual with another character and interpret it as evidence of collusion.”
Editor’s Note: John Solomon is on leave as Editor in Chief of Just the News while working as the chairman of the White House Government Transparency Task Force. He wrote this story for the White House Website, which is allowing any media to publish it.
