James Comey’s inner circle is once again under federal scrutiny.
A federal grand jury delivered a subpoena on Monday to Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor who has stood as one of Comey’s closest advisers for years, according to multiple law enforcement sources speaking with Fox News Digital.
The subpoena marks the start of a revived Justice Department investigation, this time targeting whether Comey unlawfully leaked classified material to journalists at the New York Times.
This is not new territory for investigators.
The same leak allegations first drew scrutiny during Trump’s first term, only for the probe to lose momentum after Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021.
Now the case is back, running on a separate track from another active Justice Department investigation examining alleged threats Comey directed at President Trump.
Richman’s connection to this story stretches back years.
He held a central role in the original 2018 investigation into the leak, a probe that focused heavily on his communications with reporters while he served as a special FBI employee working alongside Comey.
That earlier chapter took a dramatic turn when federal agents seized Richman’s personal electronic devices during a 2019-2020 investigation.
Richman fought back in court, arguing the seizure trampled his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
His legal fight paid off. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. ruled in Richman’s favor this past December, a decision that came after years of legal wrangling.
Despite that ruling, prosecutors had already leaned on material obtained from Richman’s devices to build their case against Comey directly.
Investigators used that evidence to secure an indictment accusing Comey of lying and obstructing a congressional inquiry, both tied to testimony he gave to lawmakers in 2020.
Comey’s testimony that year touched on whether FBI personnel had passed information to reporters without authorization.
The indictment also alleged Richman exchanged communications with journalists concerning the bureau’s 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton during her presidential run against Trump.
Comey’s legal troubles do not end there. He is simultaneously fending off separate federal charges tied to an Instagram post reading “86 47,” which prosecutors have labeled a direct threat against the sitting president.
That case carries a potential sentence of up to ten years behind bars for Comey, even though the prosecutor who originally built the case stepped down in early June.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed that threat case back in April, calling it “a grave violation of our nation’s laws” to threaten the life of the president, and warning that “the temperature needs to be turned down.”
Blanche further stated that anyone who “dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable,” language he used while announcing the two-count indictment charging Comey with threatening the president and transmitting that threat across state lines.
With this new subpoena now in hand, federal investigators are pressing forward on two fronts simultaneously, keeping both Comey and his longtime legal confidant squarely in the government’s crosshairs.
