Secret FBI File Reveals Trump Was Investigated as Possible Russian Asset After Comey Firing

A newly declassified FBI file has brought back a major question from Donald Trump’s first term: Did federal investigators think the president might be working for Russia when he fired FBI Director James Comey?

Documents released by the White House on August 5, 2026, show that the FBI started a full investigation on May 16, 2017, one week after Comey was fired. The case, called “Oxferd Comma,” aimed to find out if Trump had been “directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with” the Russian government. The memo also allowed investigators to look into whether Trump or others had tried to obstruct related FBI investigations.

The disclosure does not prove Trump was a Russian agent. The investigation ended without charges, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign conspired or worked with Russia’s election interference. Still, the new documents show that senior FBI officials took the possibility seriously and saw Comey’s firing as a possible national security issue.

A secret investigation with an extraordinary target

The first memo described the FBI’s suspicions in clear terms. Investigators said there was an “articulable factual basis” to look into whether Trump may have knowingly or unknowingly taken part in activities for the Russian government that could break federal law or threaten national security.

This language put a sitting president at the center of a counterintelligence investigation. The document was approved by then-FBI General Counsel James Baker and William Priestap, who led the counterintelligence division. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were told about the investigation.

The FBI labeled Oxferd Comma as a “sensitive investigative matter.” Officials said the investigation was the least intrusive way to handle what they saw as a serious national security risk. Still, the decision was politically significant. The bureau was looking into whether a hostile foreign power could influence the president.

The FBI declassified the records on July 30, 2026, before releasing them through the White House Government Transparency Task Force. The White House article about the records was written by task-force chairman John Solomon, who said the FBI kept pursuing the theory even though there were doubts inside the agency about the wider Trump-Russia claims. This is the administration’s view of the material, not a new court decision.

Comey’s firing changed the investigation.

Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017, just a few months after becoming president. At first, the administration said Comey was removed because of how he handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation. This reason was not made up. A Justice Department inspector general later found that Comey’s public comments about the Clinton case went against department policy. The review said Comey broke long-standing rules and took authority that usually belongs to the attorney general.

However, Trump soon made the official explanation less clear. In a TV interview, he connected his decision to the Russia controversy and called the investigation a made-up story. The Oxferd Comma memo noted the administration’s changing reasons and said Trump’s comments could suggest that the FBI’s investigation influenced his choice to fire Comey.

Comey’s firing turned an already heated political argument into a bigger crisis. On May 17, 2017, Rosenstein named Mueller as special counsel to look into Russian election interference, possible links to the Trump campaign, and related issues. Oxferd Comma became part of Mueller’s larger investigation. The main issue was not just whether Trump disliked Comey. Presidents have the right to remove executive officials, including FBI directors. The bigger question was whether Trump used that power for corrupt reasons, to block an investigation, or because of Russian influence.

Mueller produced a complicated answer.

Mueller’s investigation found that Russia ran a large campaign to influence the 2016 election. Russian groups used social media to create division, and military intelligence officers hacked Democratic organizations before releasing stolen materials to the public.

The investigation also found many contacts between people connected to the Trump campaign and Russian-linked individuals. However, Mueller did not find that campaign members conspired or worked with the Russian government on election interference. The report said that not proving something does not mean there was no evidence, but the evidence was not enough to charge a criminal conspiracy. The question of obstruction was less clear. Mueller did not make a standard decision on whether Trump obstructed justice, partly because Justice Department policy says a sitting president cannot be indicted.

The report said investigators could not be sure that Trump had not committed obstruction. It stated that the report did not say the president committed a crime, but it also did not clear him. Oxferd Comma was officially closed on April 9, 2019, after Mueller finished his investigation. No charges were brought against Trump for the Russian-agent theory, his campaign’s contacts, or his firing of Comey.

Later investigations challenged the FBI’s judgment.

Special Counsel John Durham later gave a harsh review of the FBI’s actions. In his 2023 report, he said Crossfire Hurricane was started as a full investigation based on raw, unconfirmed intelligence, without enough interviews, database checks, or standard analysis. Durham said investigators acted more aggressively toward Trump’s campaign than in some earlier cases involving possible foreign influence on other campaigns. His findings supported Republican claims that federal investigators had already made up their minds about Trump.

However, an earlier Justice Department inspector general review came to a different conclusion about how Crossfire Hurricane began. Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the investigation had enough factual basis under the FBI’s low threshold and was started for a proper reason. His office did not find evidence that political bias played a role in the decision to open the investigation. These different views are still at the heart of the debate. Durham criticized the bureau’s judgment, analysis, and how it handled sensitive information. Horowitz said the legal and procedural rules for opening the case were met.

A revelation certain to deepen American distrust

For Trump and his supporters, the memos will be seen as proof that unelected officials made a serious accusation against a new president without enough evidence. The codename Oxferd Comma now gives a clear name to suspicions that have been around for almost ten years. unprecedented sequence of events: confirmed Russian election interference, contacts involving Trump associates, changing explanations from the White House, and the sudden removal of the FBI director supervising the investigation. Both interpretations carry political force. Yet the most important fact is narrower and more unsettling than either party’s preferred slogan. The FBI did not merely investigate campaign aides, foreign operatives or political consultants. It formally examined whether the president himself might be acting, knowingly or unknowingly, on Russia’s behalf.