James Comey looked Donald Trump in the eye at a private White House dinner and said he did not leak.
That lie just caught up with his closest accomplice.
A federal grand jury subpoenaed the man who carried Comey's secrets to the New York Times – and prosecutors found a way around the judge who tried to protect him.
The Fixer Who Ran Comey's Operation
Daniel Richman was not some outside contact Comey happened to know.
He was Comey's installed insider – a Columbia Law School professor who held FBI badge access, a government security clearance, and the official title of "special government employee."
When Trump fired Comey in May 2017, Comey turned immediately to Richman.
Comey passed him FBI records documenting his private Oval Office conversations with the president – records the DOJ later determined contained classified information – with one instruction: get them to the New York Times.
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2094450494332719490?s=20
Richman delivered.
The DOJ Inspector General ruled the memos were official FBI records prepared on government computers, on government time, as part of Comey's formal duties.
Comey had told Congress they were his personal property.
The IG said Comey set "a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees" who carry that same access to sensitive information.
Biden walked in the door in January 2021 and the Justice Department closed the case.
The Judge Who Saved Richman – and the Grand Jury That Just Went Around Her
Here is the part the New York Times will not explain clearly.
Prosecutors tried to use files seized from Richman's electronic devices to build the case against Comey.
A federal judge ruled those seizures violated Richman's Fourth Amendment rights and ordered the materials returned.
That ruling killed the first Comey indictment – a false statements charge tied to his 2020 Congressional testimony – dismissed in November 2025.
But a grand jury subpoena is a different legal instrument entirely.
It does not rely on previously seized evidence.
It compels Richman to produce materials and testimony fresh – under oath, with no prior taint from the device seizures the judge threw out.
Prosecutors did not lose the evidence problem.
They found a clean path around it.
Three Cases, One Pattern
This is the DOJ's third formal move against Comey since Trump returned to office.
The first indictment – false statements to Congress – is gone, knocked out by the Richman device ruling.
The second case – Comey's "86 47" Instagram post, which prosecutors argue was a threat against Trump's life – is still active, with Comey facing up to ten years in prison.
"Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a grave violation of our nation's laws," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an April 28 statement at the time the two-count indictment for threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce was announced.
"The grand jury returned an indictment alleging James Comey did just that, at a time when this country has witnessed violent incitement followed by deadly actions against President Trump and other elected officials," he added. "The temperature needs to be turned down, and anyone who dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable."
https://twitter.com/Bannons_WarRoom/status/2094545022163239270?s=20
Today's subpoena reopens the original classified leak investigation that Biden's Justice Department buried in 2021.
What you are watching is not three separate cases born from three separate grievances.
It is one nine-year attempt by James Comey to stay one step ahead of accountability for a single decision he made the week Trump fired him.
The Inspector General documented what he did.
A federal grand jury is now compelling his fixer to explain it under oath.
The thread Comey has been pulling at since 2017 just got yanked from the other end.
Sources:
- Brooke Taylor and Anders Hagstrom, "New federal grand jury subpoena issued to former James Comey advisor in leak investigation," Fox News, August 31, 2026.
- Staff Report, "Report: Federal Grand Jury Issues Subpoena to Comey Pal Daniel Richman in Revived Leak Investigation," American Greatness, August 31, 2026.
- Kimberley Strassel, "Sneaky, Leaky James Comey," Fox News Opinion, August 30, 2019.
- Staff Report, "James Comey Indicted Over '86 47' Post," Nolo, May 7, 2026.