The probe, dubbed “Oxferd Comma,” grew out of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The White House has released newly declassified documents revealing how the Federal Bureau of Investigation under President Donald Trump’s first term opened an investigation into whether he was “wittingly or unwittingly” acting as a Russian agent when he fired the bureau’s then-head James Comey in 2017.
The probe, dubbed “Oxferd Comma,” grew out of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation that investigated whether Trump’s campaign had colluded with Russia to secure his election to the presidency in 2016. The memo opening Oxferd Comma, dated May 16, 2017, was approved by then-FBI General Counsel James A. Baker and Bill Priestap, assistant director of the bureau’s counterintelligence division.
The memo stated, “At the direction of the Assistant Director of the FBI’s counterintelligence Division, following consultation with the Office of the General Counsel, 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 behald 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 stated that the goal of the investigation was 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.”
The memo said the investigation was predicated on “predetermined criteria set forth by the Crossfire Hurricane investigative team based on the assessment of reliable lead information received during the course of the investigation.”
Among the predicating information laid out by the memo was that a Trump campaign team member indicated in May of 2016 that Russians had made a suggestion to the team that the Russians “could assist the Trump campaign with an anonymous release of information during the campaign damaging the Clinton campaign.” The memo said that Russian intelligence gained access to DNC networks, as well as senior Democratic Party officials and political figures, including Hillary Clinton.
The memo also claimed that Trump team members allegedly steered the GOP platform language on US support for Ukraine away from the idea of giving lethal defensive weapons, with the FBI saying “this platform change would be favorable to Russian interests following their annexation of Crimea.” The memo also stated that Trump “has had long-standing business and real estate ties in Russia and former Soviet states, stemming from the late 1980s.”
The investigation was closed in April of 2019, with no charges being brought against Trump.
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