By Steve Neavling
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor and longtime friend of former FBI Director James Comey, as part of a criminal investigation into whether Comey lied during testimony before Congress, ABC News reports.
Richman, who acted as an intermediary between Comey and reporters after Comey was fired by Donald Trump in 2017, met with prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia last week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Richman has said publicly that he shared contents of Comey’s memos about his conversations with Trump with a reporter from The New York Times. Trump accused Comey of leaking classified information, but Richman told ABC News at the time that none of the documents “had any classification markings.”
The subpoena is tied to Comey’s September 2020 testimony about the FBI’s handling of Russian election interference, sources said. Comey has repeatedly defended his actions, denying political bias.
The Justice Department’s inspector general previously faulted Comey for breaking FBI policy in his handling of the memos, though Trump’s Justice Department declined to prosecute him.
Attorneys for Comey and Richman did not return requests for comment. The Justice Department also declined to comment.
