Comey And His Pal Celebrated Leak To NY Times In Damning Emails
After prodding his friend to speak to a reporter, former FBI Director James Comey reviewed the resulting story and told him he had done “pretty well,” according to personal emails released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Emails and text messages included in a DOJ court filing shed light on how Daniel Richman interacted with the media. Richman is a law professor whom Comey hired as a “special government employee.” Richman later received a Top-Secret security clearance.
“Well done my friend,” Comey told Richman in a November 2, 2026, email after reading a New York Times article in which Richman served as an anonymous source. “Who would have thought that would be the case. It’s so much fun.”
The article, titled “These are the bad (and worst) options James Comey faced,” does not name Richman as a source but describes how Comey might respond after the FBI revealed to Congress that it had discovered “thousands of new emails” potentially relevant to the investigation on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server.
Richman previously questioned Comey on October 30, 2016 about an op-ed the New York Times asked him to write. (RELATED: James Comey Says He Gave ‘Literally True’ Answers to ‘Ambiguous’ Questions at Heart of Indictment)
“No need. At this point it would be [be] shouting into the wind,” Comey told him. “One day they’ll understand. And as Jack and Ben point out, my decision will be one that President-elect Clinton will be very grateful for (even if that’s not why I did it).”
A few days later, Comey emailed Richman expressing his frustration with the New York Times’ coverage, asking his friend on November 1 to “make him [the reporter] smarter.
An email from James Comey, sent from his personal account, to Daniel Richman on November 2, 2016. Credit: United States v. Comey/Screenshot
The emails were released in a filing opposing Comey’s motion to dismiss his indictment based on vindictive and selective prosecution.
Comey was indicted for allegedly and falsely claiming during his September 2020 testimony that he did not authorize “anyone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in reporting” regarding an investigation into Clinton, as well as obstructing a congressional investigation.
His lawyers argued in an Oct. 20 filing that Comey was “singled out” because of his public criticism of President Donald Trump, who “harbors real animosity” toward the former FBI director.
Federal prosecutors wrote Monday that the correspondence demonstrates that “Rihman corresponded extensively with members of the media regarding or on behalf of the defendant, including in an anonymous capacity.”
“The real affront to the criminal justice system would be to allow the defendant to escape accountability for lying to and obstructing Congress under oath about actions he took while serving as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the DOJ filing states. “The indictment was presented by a duly appointed and impartial prosecutor. And a duly impaneled grand jury found probable cause that he committed the offenses charged.”
Texts between Richman and the journalist. Credit: United States v. Comey/Screenshot
In a February 2017 email, Richman asked then-DOJ official Chuck Rosenberg if he would be willing to “chat” with a reporter about Clinton’s emails.
“Hi Chuck, my friend at the New York Times, Mike Schmidt (along with Apuzzo, Goldman and (gag me) Lichtblau) is doing a huge article on the HRC emails,” Richman wrote. “He’s had a ton of in-depth conversations with gamers and non-gamers (like me). Mike would love to talk to you exclusively in the background while he tries to figure out [sic] Jim’s decision making as far as possible. Mike asked me to contact you. Hence this email. Would you be willing to chat with him?
In text messages dated May 11, 2017, Richman asked Schmidt to contact Comey, who he said could “allow me to speak as an anonymous source.” The reporter did so, telling Comey to “just give Richman the green light to tell me about the dinner.”
“I just got the green light [sic]”, Richman responded later. “See my email.”
Citing Comey “associates,” the New York Times published an article the same day claiming that Comey “refused” to pledge allegiance to Trump when the president asked him to do so at a dinner just seven days after his inauguration.
Comey’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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