Newly unsealed FBI documents are raising serious questions about former FBI Director James Comey’s integrity — and exposing how the bureau’s top brass allegedly manipulated the media at a pivotal political moment.

According to memos obtained by Just the News, Comey may have personally authorized classified leaks to the press ahead of the 2016 election, directly contradicting his sworn testimony to Congress. The memos involve former FBI general counsel James Baker and Comey’s chief of staff, James Rybicki, and were uncovered earlier this year by current FBI Director Kash Patel.

Initially redacted by the Justice Department, the explosive passages were unsealed only after Attorney General Pam Bondi intervened. One summary memo shows that U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents concluded Baker leaked classified information to The New York Times in October 2016 because he believed he was “ultimately instructed and authorized” by Comey. Baker told investigators the order came through Rybicki, who indicated it originated with Comey himself.

“These newly declassified memos show how former FBI leadership authorized classified leaks and withheld the truth from Congress and the American people,” Patel said. “Thanks to President Trump’s commitment to transparency, the cover-up is being exposed. The public deserves nothing less than full accountability.”

Attorney General Bondi called the conduct “abhorrent” and has assembled a strike force to investigate. Her deputy, Harmeet Dhillon, said potential charges could include deprivation of civil liberties under color of government authority. Patel has also opened a wider criminal probe into years of intelligence community abuses, tying the leaks to an ongoing conspiracy stretching from the Russia collusion hoax to the infamous Mar-a-Lago raid.

Legal experts note the statute of limitations may not shield those responsible. Federal charges related to espionage or ongoing conspiracies can carry a 10-year window.
“The Trump DOJ can open up a criminal probe that investigates this malicious disclosure of classified information that harms our national interest,” said Mike Davis, a former top Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer.

The declassified files indicate prosecutors previously examined the leaks, including the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. and special counsel John Durham, but declined charges at the time. Now, with Patel’s renewed inquiry and new evidence surfacing, that calculus could change.

The memos also cast Comey’s congressional testimony in a damning light. In May 2017, then-Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley asked Comey under oath whether he had ever been a source for reporters or authorized anyone at the FBI to leak. Comey flatly answered, “Never” and “No.” Asked specifically about classified Trump-related information being shared with the press, he replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

But the unsealed memos suggest otherwise. Investigators tied Baker to the sources behind a Halloween 2016 Times story headlined, “Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia.” They also flagged a March 2017 Times article dismissing Trump’s wiretap claims, noting Rybicki had forwarded a proposed Comey statement to his personal email — raising red flags about yet another potential leak.

Despite years of leak probes — with code names like Tropic Vortex, Arctic Haze, and Foggy Falls — the FBI never brought charges. But Inspector General Michael Horowitz already faulted Comey in 2019 for leaking his own memos after being fired by President Trump, calling his actions a violation of policy and an attempt to spur a special counsel appointment. Columbia Law professor Daniel Richman admitted serving as Comey’s conduit to the media, acknowledging he couldn’t be “100% certain” that classified material wasn’t involved.

Comey has long denied wrongdoing and portrayed himself as a victim for “standing up” to Trump. Yet the latest revelations fit a broader pattern: top FBI officials bending rules and leaking selectively to shape public narratives — all while withholding the truth from Congress and the American people.

“There must be accountability for those who were entrusted with safeguarding our nation’s secrets and failed to do so,” Bondi said.

With Patel’s FBI now investigating, and President Trump’s Justice Department committed to full transparency, the era of double standards for Washington insiders may finally be coming to an end.