Declassified Memos Expose FBI’s Secret Probe Treating Trump as Russian Asset Despite Known Lack of Evidence

Newly declassified FBI memoranda reveal that just one week after President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, the bureau opened a full counterintelligence and criminal investigation into Trump himself on the theory that he may have been acting as a Russian asset—despite internal assessments at the time that the core collusion claims lacked substance.

The investigation, codenamed Oxferd Comma, was launched on May 16, 2017. According to the opening electronic communication, the FBI claimed an “articulable factual basis” that Trump “may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation” that could violate federal criminal law or threaten national security. The explicit goal was to determine whether the president was directed by, controlled by, or coordinating with Russia.

This step was taken even as key FBI personnel had already concluded there was little evidence supporting the broader Russia collusion narrative. Agent Peter Strzok, a central figure in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, texted a colleague on May 19, 2017—three days after Oxferd Comma opened—that he hesitated “in part because of my gut sense and concern there’s no big there there.” Other internal records and later testimony showed agents viewed the Steele dossier and related collusion allegations as largely uncorroborated or debunked by that point.

Senior officials including FBI General Counsel James Baker and Counterintelligence Assistant Director William Priestap approved the case. Acting Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were informed. The probe was designated sensitive, limiting visibility inside the bureau, and was later folded into Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Mueller’s final report found no conspiracy or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Oxferd Comma was formally closed on April 9, 2019, after Mueller declined to bring charges. The theory that Trump fired Comey at the behest of or on behalf of the Russian government never produced supporting evidence.

The memos were declassified in recent days by the White House Government Transparency Task Force, with formal FBI declassification occurring in late July 2026. The release adds to a growing body of documentation showing how the FBI expanded its Russia-related inquiries to directly target the sitting president on predicates that its own personnel regarded as weak.

Critics of the original Crossfire Hurricane investigation, including Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report, have long argued that the FBI proceeded with inadequate predication and failed to properly scrutinize the Clinton campaign-funded materials that helped launch the broader probe. The Oxferd Comma documents illustrate how that flawed foundation was used to justify treating a presidential personnel decision as potential evidence of foreign control.

The disclosures reinforce long-standing concerns that elements within the FBI and Justice Department pursued investigative avenues against Trump that rested more on political suspicion than verified intelligence, contributing to years of public claims of collusion that ultimately collapsed under scrutiny.