Records show top aides forwarded information for potential media disclosures while prosecutors declined to pursue charges.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Recently declassified FBI memos show that senior aides to then-Director James Comey used private email accounts to facilitate an “unauthorized disclosure” to the media, even as Comey’s bureau was concluding its probe into Hillary Clinton’s own private server, according to a report ny Just the News.
The documents reveal that James Rybicki, Comey’s chief of staff, forwarded communications from his government account to his personal email in March 2017, allegedly in furtherance of a media leak. Investigators determined the communication contained a proposed public statement drafted by Comey regarding then-President Donald Trump’s tweets about alleged surveillance at Trump Tower.
The internal probe, codenamed TROPIC VORTEX, was launched by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. According to the memos, prosecutors initially issued a preservation order for Rybicki’s private email records but later declined to pursue legal process, ruling the material was not classified. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington DC issued a prosecutorial declination decision for TROPIC VORTEX,” the memo stated.
FBI Memos – Tropic Vortex – Baker, Rybicki, And Comey by yourNEWS Media
The memos were uncovered by current FBI Director Kash Patel and declassified by Attorney General Pam Bondi for release to Congress. They add to mounting evidence of unresolved questions about how Comey and his team handled leaks during and after the 2016 election cycle.
Investigators previously gathered eyewitness accounts from Comey’s top lieutenants, including Rybicki and former FBI General Counsel James Baker, that the FBI chief authorized leaks of classified material to The New York Times in October 2016. That investigation, overseen by U.S. Attorney John Durham and the Postal Inspection Service, ultimately resulted in no charges.
A March 2017 New York Times article about Comey’s request for DOJ to rebut Trump’s “wiretap” tweets was cited as a focal point of the FBI’s internal review. A day earlier, Trump had tweeted: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the revelations vindicate Trump’s 2017 decision to dismiss Comey. “Time and again, the curtain has been pulled back to reveal Comey’s self-serving, ‘rules for thee and not for me’ attitude. That’s no way to run an institution, especially not the top law enforcement agency in the nation,” Grassley told Just the News.
The memos also connect to earlier Justice Department Inspector General findings. Michael Horowitz’s 2018 report and its recently declassified appendix revealed intelligence suggesting Obama administration officials sought to influence the Clinton server investigation. Horowitz described Comey’s unilateral decision to clear Clinton in July 2016 as “extraordinary and insubordinate.”
Despite multiple leak-related inquiries into figures including Comey, Clinton, and now-Sen. Adam Schiff, the FBI and Justice Department ultimately declined prosecutions. As Just the News reported, more than half a dozen internal leak probes tied to Russiagate-era stories failed to produce accountability.
The disclosures add to longstanding criticism of the FBI’s handling of politically sensitive investigations during and after the 2016 election, underscoring continuing disputes over leaks, bias, and selective accountability inside the bureau.