Jay Sekulow, an attorney for President Donald Trump, appeared on “Fox & Friends” this morning to react to reports that former FBI Director James Comey’s memos about his meetings with President Trump contained classified information.
Comey reportedly wrote a total of seven memos describing his talks with Trump on the Russia probe earlier this year, four of which had markings indicating they contained classified material at the “secret” or “confidential” level.
Comey admitted in congressional testimony that he had used an old friend at Columbia University to get a memo leaked to The New York Times, with the intention of triggering the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian meddling in the campaign and possible collusion with Trump associates.
“My thinking was if I write it in such a way that I don’t include anything that would trigger a classification, that would make it easier to discuss within the FBI and the government and to hold onto it in a way that makes it accessible to us,” Comey said during his testimony.
“James Comey was potentially leaking classified information,” Sekulow said. “We know he was leaking information, and it may well have been classified.”
He said Comey, at a minimum, gave out information about a conversation with the president, which violates section 641 of U.S. criminal code.
“It was covered by executive privilege,” he said. “And James Comey ignored that when he illegally … distributed that information for one purpose only: to get a special prosecutor. He gets a special prosecutor based on illegally leaked information. What does that tell you about the whole basis for this special counsel?”
Sekulow said that he believes we will eventually find out if any of the information Comey leaked was indeed classified.
He explained that the information has been turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller, and the Senate and House committees that are conducting their own Russia probes will also ask for it.
