The White House released declassified FBI memos showing the bureau investigated whether President Donald Trump's firing of James Comey was tied to Russia under a code name spelled "Oxferd Comma," fueling speculation that the unusual spelling was intentional. The probe opened days after Trump fired Comey in May 2017, with investigators examining whether the dismissal was connected to Russia.
According to a May 16, 2017 FBI memo cited in the release, investigators sought to determine whether Trump was "directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with" Russia in a manner constituting a threat to national security or a violation of federal criminal statutes. The White House initially cited Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation as the reason for his firing.
What the Left Is Saying
Critics of the theory note that no documentation has been produced linking the code name's spelling to an effort to evade disclosure, and Clark himself framed his interpretation as speculation, writing "let me speculate" in outlining a possible explanation. Comey publicly noted his affection for Oxford commas — posting about them on X in 2017 while promoting his memoir, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership" — which could suggest an inside reference rather than concealment. FBI code names are routinely arbitrary or opaque, and Freedom of Information Act searches typically return documents by subject matter rather than operation name alone.
The FBI did not directly address the code name when asked about it. Ben Williamson, assistant director of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, said "the weaponization that occurred against President Trump under prior regimes was inexcusable and wholly un-American," adding that Director Kash Patel — who he noted led the original investigation into the Crossfire Hurricane scandal — has released over 40,000 pages of documents to the public.
What the Right Is Saying
Jeff Clark, a former acting assistant attorney general who now serves as vice president of litigation at the Oversight Project, alleged the code name was deliberately altered to make records of the investigation harder to find. "The FBI under James Comey and Christopher Wray was hopelessly corrupt," he told Fox News Digital, describing the probe as an effort to penalize Trump's firing of Comey on the theory that Trump was a witting or unwitting Russian agent.
Clark said the code name — rendered "OXFERD C0MMA" with a zero replacing the second letter in "Comma" and a misspelling of the university — reflected FBI managers who "thought this was clever," comparing them to James Bond supervillain Blofeld "deviously defeating the Freedom of Information Act." He said he consulted with a document expert who concluded the first "o" in "Comma" was actually a zero, further obscuring the probe's name. Clark suggested that a FOIA request using correct spelling might not have returned relevant documents, allowing the FBI to say no responsive records had been found, and posted on X that the matter "should be investigated as an obstruction of justice."
What the Numbers Show
The May 16, 2017 memo predates Comey's firing by roughly a week — Trump dismissed him in early May 2017. Clark said he consulted a document expert who concluded the first "o" in "Comma" was actually a zero, and that the probe's name contained both a misspelling of "Oxford" and an altered character. Williamson said Patel has released over 40,000 pages of documents to the public, which he described as a threefold increase from both his predecessors combined.
The Bottom Line
Clark is calling for the matter to be investigated as obstruction of justice, and the release comes amid broader scrutiny of the FBI's handling of investigations involving Trump under prior leadership. A separate Department of Justice probe into former CIA Director John Brennan over the origins of the Russia investigation has been tapped to a Trump ally, according to reports in the source material. The next developments to watch are whether further declassified documents clarify how records related to "Oxferd Comma" were indexed and searched, and whether any inquiry examines Clark's obstruction allegation.