Justice investigating alleged Comey leak of years-old classified info

WASHINGTON » Federal prosecutors in Washington are investigating a yearsold leak of classified information about a Russian intelligence document, and they appear to be focusing on whether former FBI Director James Comey illegally provided details to reporters, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The case is the second time the Justice Department has investigated leaks potentially involving Comey, a frequent target of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called him a “leaker.” Trump recently suggested without evidence that Comey should be prosecuted for “unlawful conduct” and spend years in prison.

The timing of the investigation could raise questions about whether it was motivated at least in part by politics. Prosecutors and FBI agents typically investigate leaks of classified information around the time they appear in the news media, not years later. And the inquiry is the latest politically sensitive matter undertaken by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.

Law enforcement officials are scrutinizing at least two news articles about the FBI and Comey, published in The New York Times and The Washington Post in 2017, that mentioned the Russian government document, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Hackers working for Dutch intelligence officials obtained the document and provided it to the FBI, and both its existence and the collection of it were highly classified secrets, the people said.

The document played a key role in Comey’s decision to sideline the Justice Department and announce in July 2016 that the FBI would not recommend that Hillary Clinton face charges in her use of a private email server to conduct government business while secretary of state.

The investigation into the leaks began in recent months, the people said, but it is not clear whether prosecutors have impaneled a grand jury or how many witnesses they have interviewed. What prompted the inquiry is also unclear. A lawyer for Comey declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.

Previously, federal prosecutors in New York scrutinized Comey after his personal lawyer and friend, Daniel C. Richman, provided the contents of a memo about Comey’s interactions with Trump to a Times reporter at Comey’s request. Though officials retroactively determined that the memo contained classified information, prosecutors declined to charge Comey with illegally disclosing the material.