White House Releases Docs on Secret FBI Trump-Russia Probe
The White House has released a trove of declassified FBI documents showing that the bureau opened a 2017 counterintelligence investigation into whether President Donald Trump was acting on behalf of or under the influence of Russia when he fired FBI Director James Comey. The probe, codenamed “Oxferd Comma,” was launched on May 16, 2017, just one week after Trump dismissed Comey, according to Fox News.
The FBI opening memo stated there was “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 Investigation’s Premise
Investigators sought to determine whether 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,” according to the White House release. The memo also indicated investigators would examine whether Trump or others obstructed or conspired to obstruct any associated FBI investigation.
The memo, written by the FBI’s counterintelligence division and approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap, noted that the circumstances surrounding Comey’s dismissal “can be reasonably read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor in President Trump’s decision to terminate Comey.” Both Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were advised that the probe had been launched.
The investigation was designated a “sensitive investigative matter” and described as “the least intrusive method to address the serious national security risk posed by the activities alleged.” The probe was closed on April 9, 2019, a few weeks after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation concluded with no charges against Trump.
The Code Name Controversy
A review of the White House’s original release shows the code name rendered as “Oxferd Comma,” with the letter “o” in place of what might be expected. Former acting Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark alleged the code name was deliberately altered to make records harder to find through Freedom of Information Act searches. Clark said a document expert he consulted concluded the “o” in “Comma” was actually a zero, further obscuring the probe’s name.
“The FBI under James Comey and Christopher Wray was hopelessly corrupt,” Clark told Fox News. “To penalize President Trump’s firing of Comey, they created a ridiculous investigation into Trump on the theory he was a witting or unwitting Russian agent.”
Clark speculated the unusual spelling was intended to make the records difficult to locate, potentially allowing the FBI to claim no responsive documents existed. The unusual name also drew attention on social media, where users resurfaced a 2017 Comey post about Oxford commas in which he wrote, “Check the actual cover. I’m all about Oxford commas.”
Internal Doubts and Contradictions
Despite the investigation’s serious premise, previously released FBI and DOJ records show the notion of Trump being a Russian asset had already been widely dismissed by agents and analysts working on the Crossfire Hurricane case, the FBI’s broader probe into alleged Trump-Russia collusion. CBS News reported that an administration official said the theory was “not backed up by evidence” and that “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.”
Then-Deputy Assistant Director Pete Strzok texted FBI special counsel Lisa Page on May 19, 2017, just days after the probe opened: “I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.” FBI Special Agent William Barnett later told investigators he “still did not see any evidence of collusion between the TRUMP Campaign and the Russian Government,” according to Just the News.
Barnett described the investigation as resembling a game investigators called “Collusion Clue,” in which “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.”
Historical Context and Aftermath
The Oxferd Comma investigation was a subcomponent of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI probe into potential collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russian government. Comey’s firing ultimately led to Rosenstein appointing Mueller as special counsel in May 2017. Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation concluded in April 2019 without establishing that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.
Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report later concluded that the FBI lacked sufficient factual basis to open the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation and did not apply the same rigor it had used in other sensitive investigations. A separate 2019 DOJ inspector general review found the FBI had enough information under its rules to open Crossfire Hurricane, though it later identified serious errors and omissions in surveillance applications involving former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The documents were released through the White House Government Transparency Task Force, chaired by John Solomon, who is on leave as Editor in Chief of Just the News. FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson said in a statement that “the weaponization that occurred against President Trump under prior regimes was inexcusable and wholly un-American,” noting that Director Kash Patel “has released over 40,000 pages of documents to the public exposing similar malfeasance from former FBI leadership.”
The release comes as federal prosecutors in Fort Pierce, Florida, reportedly investigate whether the FBI, DOJ and intelligence agencies engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump and his supporters through repeated criminal investigations that lacked evidence of wrongdoing, as The Washington Times reported.
What to Watch For
The declassification of the Oxferd Comma documents adds another chapter to the ongoing debate over the FBI’s conduct during the Trump era. The release is part of a broader effort by the current administration to expose what it characterizes as institutional malfeasance within federal law enforcement agencies. With the Fort Pierce investigation reportedly underway and ongoing legal proceedings involving Comey, the full scope of the FBI’s actions during this turbulent period may continue to come into sharper focus in the months ahead.