Most of the memos written by former FBI Director James Comey on his conversations with President Donald Trump about the Russia investigation contained classified information, officials familiar with the documents said.
Comey, who Trump fired in May, said that he had written the memos about his private meetings with the president as a record for future use. Comey had a friend leak some of the memos after Trump warned that he may have tapes of their conversations, but Comey has since turned the memos back over to the bureau.
The conversations that the memos described included discussions on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
News of the memos containing classified information came from interviews with officials, the Hill reports.
Comey had told members of Congress in a hearing that he believed the memos were his property and not government documents. Comey also said that he believed all of his memos were free of classified information, the Hill noted.
"I immediately prepared an unclassified memo of the conversation about Flynn and discussed the matter with FBI senior leadership," he testified about the one memo he later leaked about former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
He added, "My view was that the content of those unclassified, memorialization of those conversations was my recollection recorded."
But when the seven memos Comey wrote regarding his nine conversations with Trump about Russia earlier this year were shown to Congress in recent days, the FBI claimed all were, in fact, deemed to be government documents.
While the Comey memos have been previously reported, this is the first time there has been a number connected to the amount of the memos the ex-FBI chief wrote.
FBI rules state that no official may release any information on an ongoing investigation without permission.
After Comey supervised the investigation into improper handling of classified information by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he may now be investigated by Congress.
Trump tweeted early Monday morning on the story, saying it was "so illegal."
James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017