Opens Election-Interference Investigations On January 6, 2017, as noted in Volume II, Section II.A.4, supra, intelligence officials briefed President-Elect Trump and the incoming Administration on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia had 107 interfered in the 2016 presidential election. When the briefing concluded, Comey spoke with the President-Elect privately to brief him on unverified, 108 personally sensitive allegations compiled by Steele. According to a memorandum Comey drafted immediately after their private discussion, the President-Elect began the meeting by telling Comey he had conducted himself 109 honorably over the prior year and had a great reputation. The President-Elect stated that he thought highly of Comey, looked forward to working with him, 110 and hoped that he planned to stay on as FBI director. Comey responded that 111 he intended to continue serving in that role. Comey then briefed the 112 President-Elect on the sensitive material in the Steele reporting. Comey recalled that the President-Elect seemed defensive, so Comey decided to assure 113 him that the FBI was not investigating him personally. Comey recalled he did not want the President-Elect to think of the conversation as a “J. Edgar Hoover 114 move.” On January 10, 2017, the media reported that Comey had briefed the 115 President-Elect on the Steele reporting, and BuzzFeed News published information compiled by Steele online, stating that the information included “specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations of contact between 116 Trump aides and Russian operatives.” The next day, the President-Elect expressed concern to intelligence community leaders about the fact that the information had leaked and asked whether they could make public statements 117 refuting the allegations in the Steele reports. In the following weeks, three Congressional committees opened investigations to examine Russia’s interference in the election and whether the 118 Trump Campaign had colluded with Russia. On January 13, 2017, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) announced that it would conduct a bipartisan inquiry into Russian interference in the election, including any “links 119 between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns.” On