FBI Ran Secret Probe Into Whether Trump Fired Comey On Russia's Orders, Declassified Memos Show

Declassified FBI records released by the White House on Wednesday show the bureau opened a criminal investigation into Donald Trump himself in May 2017, examining whether he fired FBI Director James Comey on behalf of Russia.

The probe was codenamed Oxferd Comma. According to the opening memo, dated May 16, 2017, the FBI's counterintelligence division launched it 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."

The stated goal, per the document, was to determine whether Trump "is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation." It also targeted Trump and unnamed others for potential obstruction tied to Comey's firing.

John Solomon, writing for the White House, reported the memo was written by the FBI's counterintelligence division and approved by then-General Counsel James Baker and then-Assistant Director for Counterintelligence William Priestap. Both Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were informed the probe existed, according to those records.

The case was marked a "sensitive investigative matter," a designation typically used to limit who inside the bureau knows a case exists. Agents described it internally as the "least intrusive method" to address what they saw as a national security risk.

Comey was fired on May 9, 2017. Trump said at the time the firing was over Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, an explanation backed by a memo from Rosenstein documenting Comey's decision to publicly close that case without Justice Department sign-off.

According to CBS News, an unnamed administration official briefed on the declassification said the theory that Trump was acting as a Russian asset was "not backed up by evidence" and that Oxferd Comma was folded into the broader Crossfire Hurricane investigation into 2016 Trump campaign contacts with Russia. That official told CBS: "I was unaware that the predicate for the obstruction included a claim that Donald Trump was somehow acting on behalf of Vladimir Putin. 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."

If FBI leadership already had evidence undercutting a collusion theory, as the official quoted by CBS claims, opening a criminal probe premised partly on that same theory raises real questions about what standard agents were using to justify it. Critics, including the White House's own release framing, argue this shows the bureau treated a president's personnel decision as evidence of a foreign conspiracy with a thin factual basis.

FBI counterintelligence work often opens on preliminary, unverified tips precisely because waiting for full proof before investigating a potential national security threat defeats the purpose of counterintelligence. Agents at the time were also working amid live reporting on contacts between Trump campaign associates and Russian nationals, and Comey himself had just been fired days after he confirmed to Congress that an FBI investigation into Russian election interference was underway. A reasonable defense of the bureau's decision would say opening a "sensitive" probe to determine intent, rather than publicly accusing Trump, is a measured step, not proof of bad faith.

Oxferd Comma was eventually absorbed into Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation after Rosenstein appointed Mueller in the wake of Comey's firing. Mueller's nearly two-year inquiry, according to CBS News, did not find that Trump campaign members "conspired or coordinated" with Russia, though it documented various contacts between campaign figures and Russia-linked individuals. The Oxferd Comma theory itself was found to have no merit once the broader Mueller probe wound down, according to the White House official cited by CBS.

ZeroHedge's coverage, sourced from The Epoch Times, largely mirrors the White House's framing and leans on the memo language showing the investigation explicitly examined whether Comey's firing was linked to the Russia election-interference probe, tying Trump's stated rationale for the firing directly to the counterintelligence case file.

No new charges, indictments, or reopened investigations have been announced as a result of Wednesday's declassification. James Baker, William Priestap, Andrew McCabe, and Rod Rosenstein have not issued public statements responding to the release as of this writing. Comey, separately facing a federal charge over a social media post referencing the numbers "86 47," has called the broader pursuit of him vindictive. That case remains pending and is legally unrelated to the Oxferd Comma memos.