The White House on Wednesday made public newly declassified information showing that the FBI launched an inquiry into whether President Trump was acting as a Russian asset when he dismissed FBI Director James Comey — a theory that an administration official said was not supported by evidence.
According to the official, the investigation was called Oxferd Comma and operated as a subcomponent of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s broader probe into possible coordination between the Trump 2016 campaign and the Russian government. That investigation has been a frequent target of Mr. Trump’s criticism. The basis for opening Oxferd Comma, the official said, was the newly inaugurated president’s 2017 decision to fire Comey.
The matter was designated as sensitive, a classification generally used to restrict visibility of a case among other FBI agents, the official said. The agents who initiated the inquiry believed it would be the least intrusive way to examine what they viewed as a significant national security concern.
Oxferd Comma was later folded into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s wider investigation into Mr. Trump, the official said. It was ultimately determined to have no merit when the rest of Mueller’s inquiry was brought to a close.
“I was unaware that the predicate for the obstruction included a claim that Donald Trump was somehow acting on behalf of Vladimir Putin,” the official said. “The short of it is, almost everything in the FBI’s possession at that point had debunked or ruled out that Trump or his campaign was colluding with Russia at that time.”
Mr. Trump removed Comey in May 2017, only months after taking office for his first term. At first, the White House pointed to Comey’s handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails as the reason for the firing. Mueller’s report later said Mr. Trump had been frustrated that Comey would not publicly say the president was not personally under investigation over possible Russia ties.
Comey’s firing became the turning point that led to a much broader investigation of Mr. Trump. In the aftermath, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel to examine Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any possible links to the Trump campaign.
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Mueller ultimately did not find evidence that Trump campaign members “conspired or coordinated” with Russia, although his report detailed several contacts between campaign figures and individuals connected to the Russian government.
Mr. Trump has frequently accused the FBI and other intelligence agencies of conducting unethical investigations into his campaigns and presidency, and has vowed to launch probes of his own. He has long criticized Comey, calling him a “dirty cop,” while Comey has lashed out at Mr. Trump, calling him “morally unfit” to be president.
Earlier this year, Comey was charged with threatening Mr. Trump’s life by posting photos of seashells arranged to form the numbers “86 47.” Comey has alleged he is being vindictively and selectively prosecuted, which the Justice Department has denied. Last year, he was separately charged with making false statements to Congress, though the indictment was dismissed.
