The White House on Wednesday released newly declassified information detailing an FBI investigation that examined whether President Donald Trump was acting as an asset for Russia after he fired then-FBI Director James Comey in 2017, according to administration officials.
An administration official said the investigation, known as Oxferd Comma, was opened as a subcomponent of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which focused on potential coordination between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government. The official said the specific basis for opening Oxferd Comma was Trump’s decision to dismiss Comey shortly after taking office.
According to the official, the investigation was designated as a sensitive case, a classification generally used to keep certain investigations from being broadly visible to other FBI agents. The agents who initiated the inquiry reportedly believed it represented the least intrusive method of addressing what they viewed as a serious national security concern.
The administration official said the investigation was eventually folded into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s broader inquiry into Trump and was later determined to lack merit when the Mueller investigation concluded.
“I was unaware that the predicate for the obstruction included a claim that Donald Trump was somehow acting on behalf of Vladimir Putin,” the official said.
The official also argued that the available evidence at the time did not support the underlying theory behind the investigation.
“The short of it is, almost everything in the FBI’s possession at that point had debunked or ruled out that Trump or his campaign was colluding with Russia at that time,” the official said.
Trump dismissed Comey in May 2017, only months into his first term in office. At the time, the White House said the firing stemmed from Comey’s handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email practices.
However, Mueller’s report later claimed Trump was frustrated because Comey declined to publicly state that the president was not personally under investigation regarding potential ties to Russia.
Comey’s firing ultimately became a pivotal moment that led to a broader federal investigation. Following his dismissal, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any potential connections between Russia and the Trump campaign.
When Mueller completed his investigation, he concluded that investigators did not find evidence that members of the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia. At the same time, the report described contacts between campaign officials and individuals linked to the Russian government.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the FBI and other intelligence agencies over their investigations into his 2016 campaign and presidency, accusing them of conducting improper and unethical probes. He has also pledged to pursue investigations of his own.
The president has long been a vocal critic of Comey, repeatedly referring to the former FBI director as a “dirty cop.” Comey, for his part, has sharply criticized Trump, previously describing him as “morally unfit” to serve as president.
Earlier this year, Comey was charged with threatening Trump’s life after posting photographs of seashells arranged to display the numbers “86 47.” Comey has maintained that he is the target of vindictive and selective prosecution, an allegation the Justice Department has denied.
Separately, Comey was charged last year with making false statements to Congress, though that indictment was later dismissed.
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