James Comey was fired as FBI Director by President Donald J. Trump on May 9, 2017. Declassified FBI documents released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force on August 5, 2026, reveal that the bureau was so obsessed with establishing Russian collusion that it opened a full criminal and counterintelligence investigation into President Trump within days of the firing.
The probe, codenamed “Oxferd Comma,” examined whether the 45th President of the United States was “wittingly or unwittingly” involved in activities for or on behalf of the Russian Federation when he dismissed Comey. FBI memos show for the first time that the bureau predicated this obstruction investigation on the concern that the then-president may have been an asset of Vladimir Putin.
An administration official confirmed the theory was not backed by evidence. The timeline itself supports that conclusion.
According to the May 16, 2017, electronic communication that formally opened the case, the FBI determined 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 goal of these Obama operatives, according to the classified documents, was to determine whether Trump “is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with the Russian Federation” in a manner that threatened national security or violated federal law — and whether he and others obstructed related FBI investigations. The memo further noted that Trump’s public explanations for firing Comey could “reasonably be read to imply that the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation was a factor” in the decision.
The electronic communication was approved by then-FBI General Counsel James A. Baker and William Priestap, assistant director of the Counterintelligence Division. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were informed.
Oxferd Comma was designated a “sensitive investigative matter” and described internally as “the least intrusive method” to address what the so-called agents called a serious national security risk, but became the instrument for continuing the Russian collusion push, treating Comey’s firing itself as potential evidence that Trump might be acting at Russia’s behest or obstructing the ongoing inquiry.
Comey was fired for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, consistent with a recommendation from Rosenstein.
The Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz would later conclude that Comey “violated long-standing department practice and protocol” in that case.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and Oxferd Comma was folded into Mueller’s broader portfolio of the Russia-hoax investigation. The nearly two-year probe was hampered from the start of the Trump presidency.
Mueller’s team ultimately found no conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election. Oxferd Comma was formally closed on April 9, 2019, shortly after Mueller’s report, with no charges against Trump.
The same pattern of internal contradictions that marked Crossfire Hurricane, the Carter Page FISAs, the Flynn case, and other Obama-era operations was on full display here.
By the time Oxferd Comma opened, key FBI personnel working Crossfire Hurricane had already expressed significant doubts about the underlying collusion allegations.
Lead agent Pete Strzok texted Lisa Page on May 19, 2017, just days after the new probe began: “I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.”
Special Agent William Barnett later told investigators he saw no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and viewed the effort as resembling a flawed game of “Collusion Clue.”
Yet, the probe still contiuned.
Special Counsel John Durham’s later review concluded the FBI lacked a proper predicate even to open Crossfire Hurricane.
The fake Steele dossier, the early source of many collusion claims, was a Clinton-sponsored document funded through the Clinton campaign and known to the bureau.
By early 2017, well before the launch of the Oxferd Comma probe, the FBI had already evaluated every statement in the Steele dossier. According to a spreadsheet created by FBI analysts, some claims were provably false and most others were either internet rumor or unable to be corroborated.
Igor Danchenko, a paid confidential source, served as Steele’s primary source for the dossier. The bureau knew Danchenko had long been suspected of being a Russian spy, yet continued to use his information.
That same period also saw the FBI clear then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn of collusion. “No derogatory information was reported back to the FBI,” a January 4, 2017 memo stated. Agents then invited Flynn for an interview and later charged him with false statements.
Counterintelligence chief Priestap recorded his concern at the time: “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?”
Intelligence reporting further undercut the premise. On August 3, 2016, just four days after Crossfire Hurricane opened, CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Obama, Vice President Biden, DNI Clapper, FBI Director Comey and other senior officials on Russian interference efforts and on intelligence the Agency had received about the Clinton campaign.
His handwritten notes from that briefing, later declassified by DNI John Ratcliffe, remain heavily blacked out. The portions that survive, however, record the core allegation in stark terms:
“CITE alleged approval by Hillary Clinton of a proposal from one of her foreign policy advisers to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security services.”
The notes also pose the operational question that would define the next four years: “Any evidence of collaboration between Trump campaign + Russia?”
Those surviving sentences written by the CIA Director himself after briefing Obama, sit at the center of the story the public was never fully told. This intelligence verifies what Americans have known already, once again validating this was a political witchhunt.
The release comes amid separate examinations of past FBI and DOJ actions involving Trump, including a reported Fort Pierce, Florida investigation into whether the agencies engaged in a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Trump and his supporters through repeated probes that lacked evidence of wrongdoing.
The FBI formally investigated a sitting president of the United States. The documents released on August 5 show the bureau acted on the theory that his decision to fire the FBI director might itself be evidence that he was under Russian direction or control, even as the bureau’s own agents and analysts had already largely rejected the collusion narrative that underpinned the case.
No American president in modern history has been subjected to such sustained and intensive investigation and legal pressure. President Donald J. Trump and several of his closest allies were put through years of investigation and, in some cases, prosecution. The damage was already done long before any final judgments were rendered.
Are there any laws against the FBI manufacturing evidence and cases against anyone, including political figures the leadership of the FBI opposed? I don’t think so because nobody is either in jail or with criminal indictments. The “8647” case against Comey looks sophomoric, not a criminal case. Comey lied and used the fraudulent Steele dossier to get warrants to spy on Trump. Why isn’t he charged with manufacturing evidence to get a FISA warrant? Justice system in America totally inadequate and ineffective against the most prominent officials, elected and appointed, especially Democrats or RINOs like Comey.
This is what lawfare looks like when the permanent security state loses an election. They did not accept Trump as President. They treated him as a target, a suspect, an asset, an infection inside their own government. Comey, McCabe, Baker, Priestap, Rosenstein, Mueller, Strzok, Page—the names change, but the machinery is the same. They took Clinton-funded garbage, internal doubts, uncorroborated rumors, and political panic, then turned it into years of investigations designed to cripple a presidency. “Oxferd Comma” was not national security. It was bureaucratic sedition with letterhead. The larger question is why these bad actors have not been torn out of the government apparatus, root and stem.