Comey admits leaking memo to Columbia law professor

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - A Columbia University law professor and close friend of former FBI director James Comey has confirmed he leaked contents of one of Comey's memos to The New York Times.

Comey testified before the Senate intelligence committee on Thursday that he hoped the story about his interactions with President Donald Trump would prompt the appointment of a special counsel.

"The President tweeted on Friday after I got fired that I better hope there are not tapes," said Comey.

"I woke up in the middle of the night on Monday night because it didn't dawn on me originally that there might be corroboration of our conversations. There might be a tape. My judgment was that I needed to get that out into the public square. I asked a friend to share the content of the memo with a reporter... A good friend of mine who is a professor at Columbia Law School," said Comey.

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Daniel Richman confirmed to The Associated Press in an email that he was the friend who Comey mentioned in his testimony. He declined further comment.

His bio on the Columbia University website describes Richman as an adviser to Comey.

"Richman is a former federal prosecutor who served as chief appellate attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, and has served as a consultant to the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury on federal criminal matters. Richman was the Brendan Moore Professor in Advocacy at Fordham Law School before joining Columbia Law School’s faculty. In 2004, Richman was appointed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as chairman of the Local Conditional Release Commission. He is currently an adviser to FBI Director James B. Comey.

Richman's scholarly writings include more than 30 law review articles. He has offered testimony as an expert in a number of congressional hearings, and state, federal, and international criminal and civil matters."

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Richman served with Comey in the Southern District of New York and at the FBI. 

With the Associated Press