--- title: Comey Investigation: He Had Friend Leak Memos to Media description: Comey had a friend share the contents of a memo he wrote about his interaction with Trump, he testified. canonical: https://time.com/4811044/james-comey-testimony-media-leaks/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-08T16:06:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:06:22.654Z article:section: Politics og:title: James Comey Had a Friend Leak His Memo About President Trump og:description: Leaking it himself would be like "feeding seagulls at the beach," he said og:url: https://time.com/4811044/james-comey-testimony-media-leaks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab5931ddaaf860b7/6988d0cb0b72e307c06ee277/jame-comey-fbi-testimony-washington-dc-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5124 og:image:height: 2882 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-INTELLIGENCE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: James Comey Had a Friend Leak His Memo About President Trump twitter:description: Leaking it himself would be like "feeding seagulls at the beach," he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab5931ddaaf860b7/6988d0cb0b72e307c06ee277/jame-comey-fbi-testimony-washington-dc-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # James Comey Had a Friend Leak His Memo About President Trump > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=51b97b50-5a9e-4120-ba59-e060a653b7fa&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: James Comey Had a Friend Leak His Memo About President Trump [Watch (HLS stream): James Comey Had a Friend Leak His Memo About President Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0nX2W6vN.m3u8) (0:37)  _Published 2017-06-08. James Comey Arranged Memo Leak_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 8, 2017 4:06 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jun 8, 2017 4:06 PM UTC [James Comey](http://time.com/4810770/comey-testimony-donald-trump-loyalty/) had a friend share the contents of a memo he wrote about his interaction with President Trump in the hopes that it would help lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor for the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the former FBI Director told the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday. Comey asked his “close friend,” he said, who he identified as a professor at Columbia Law School, to share the contents of his memo after [President Trump](http://time.com/4810099/reality-leigh-winner-nsa-leaks-president-donald-trump/) tweeted that he hoped there were tapes of their conversations. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473) Several days later, Comey said, he woke up in the middle of the night and realized he had to take action. “It didn’t dawn on me, originally, that there might be corroboration for our conversation \[there\] might be a tape, my judgement was I needed get that out into the public square and so I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter,” he said. He didn’t leak to the media himself, he said, because he was worried it would be like “feeding seagulls at the beach.” He did not specify exactly what memo he was referring to. But Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Ffortunedotcom.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D2053258%26action%3Dedit) about the possibility of tapes Friday, May 12\. On May 16, t[he New York _Times_ ](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/james-comey-trump-flynn-russia-investigation.html)published a report, citing a memo from Comey read to the paper by “one of Mr. Comey’s associates,” that Trump had asked Comey to halt any investigations into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. This report is corroborated in Comey’s testimony, which the Senate Intelligence Committee released Wednesday ahead of his hearing. Comey no longer has his memos, he told the committee. He handed them over to the [special counsel, ](http://time.com/4783922/special-counsel-named-in-russia-probe/)which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed May 17. Comey did not identify his friend by name, which appears to have led the Columbia Law School website faculty page to crash from high traffic shortly after his remarks. But the _Times_ [ran an article May 13](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/business/dealbook/whats-next-for-comey-probably-not-a-normal-job.html?mcubz=0) about Comey’s future career prospects which cited Columbia Professor Daniel Richman, describing him a friend who had spoken with Comey several times since his termination. A CNN reporter [said](https://twitter.com/ryanobles/status/872845851089096704) that Richman confirmed he was the source. ## Transcript President tweeted on Friday after I got fired that I better hope there's not tapes. I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night, cuz it didn't dawn on me originally, that there might be corroboration for our conversation. There might be a tape. And my judgement was, I needed to get that out into the public square. So I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with the reporter. Didn't do it myself for a variety of reasons. But I asked him to, because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special council. So I asked a close friend of mine to do it. And was that Mr [ UNKNOWN ]? No. Who was that? 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