The White House has declassified a cache of documents revealing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) initiated a secret investigation in May 2017 into whether President Donald Trump was "wittingly or unwittingly" acting as a Russian intelligence asset. The newly released records shed additional light on the extraordinary scrutiny faced by the sitting president during his first term, particularly following his decision to fire then-FBI Director James Comey.
"The weaponization that occurred against President Trump under prior regimes was inexcusable and wholly un-American." — Ben Williamson, Assistant Director of the FBI Office of Public Affairs
The investigation, given the unusual codename "Oxferd Comma," was launched shortly after President Trump removed Comey from his position. According to a May 16, 2017, document now made public, investigators were tasked with examining whether President Trump and other unidentified individuals had obstructed or conspired to obstruct an FBI investigation. This probe was linked to the bureau's ongoing "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as President Trump’s rationale for Comey’s dismissal.
Investigators noted that President Trump’s publicly stated reasons for firing Comey had "changed over time." Initially, President Trump cited Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. However, he later discussed Russia in the context of the firing, referring to "this Russia thing" as a "made up story." The "Oxferd Comma" investigation aimed to determine if these circumstances suggested a deeper issue, including a potential relationship between the President himself and Russian intelligence.
More than nine years after its inception, the documents detailing this investigation have now been made public, providing a new window into one of the most politically charged periods of President Trump’s first administration. The probe was ultimately closed in early 2019 without substantiating that President Trump was working as a Russian asset, coinciding with the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
John Solomon, chairman of the White House Government Transparency Task Force, issued a strong statement accompanying the release of the documents, criticizing the investigation. "It prompted the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller…and a nearly two-year probe that hampered the start of the Trump presidency even though Mueller’s team, like the FBI before it, was unable to substantiate any collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election," Solomon wrote.
The FBI, under its current leadership, has also commented on the bureau’s past handling of investigations related to President Trump. Ben Williamson, Assistant Director of the FBI Office of Public Affairs, told The Independent, "The weaponization that occurred against President Trump under prior regimes was inexcusable and wholly un-American." Williamson highlighted FBI Director Kash Patel’s previous work investigating "Crossfire Hurricane" and noted that Patel has overseen the release of over 40,000 pages of documents concerning alleged misconduct by former FBI leadership.
While the "Oxferd Comma" investigation found no evidence of President Trump acting as a Russian asset, Mueller’s broader investigation documented numerous contacts between Russia-linked individuals and associates of the Trump campaign. However, Mueller’s report explicitly stated that it did not establish that members of the Trump campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
The origins and conduct of the Russia investigation subsequently became the subject of another special counsel inquiry. Special Counsel John Durham was appointed to review how federal authorities handled the Trump-Russia investigation. Durham’s 2023 report sharply criticized aspects of the FBI’s work, including what he described as a "lack of analytical rigor" in its examination of President Trump’s potential connections to Russia. Despite his criticisms, Durham did not recommend "wholesale changes" to the FBI.
The declassification of these documents brings renewed attention to the role of James Comey, who was leading the FBI when President Trump fired him in May 2017. Comey later became an outspoken critic of President Trump, and tensions between the two have persisted. More recently, the Justice Department scrutinized a controversial social media post by Comey featuring seashells arranged to display "86 47," which was interpreted by some as referring to President Trump, the 47th president, with "86" being slang for removing something and sometimes carrying violent implications. Comey apologized, stating he was unaware of the phrase's potential violent interpretation, while his attorneys accused the Trump administration of "vindictive and selective prosecution."
These newly declassified records offer another critical perspective on the origins of the years-long political and legal battles surrounding President Trump, Russia, and the FBI. They confirm that federal investigators indeed explored whether the sitting president could have been knowingly or unknowingly operating as a Russian intelligence asset, an investigation that ultimately concluded without substantiating such claims.
