Washington (AFP)

Former FBI director James Comey has violated US federal police rules by keeping records of his exchanges with Donald Trump, but has not conveyed confidential information to the press, according to an official report released Thursday.

James Comey, sacked in May 2017 and has since been very critical of the Republican president, will not be sued for breaking the procedures. It could, however, suffer administrative penalties, according to a statement from the Ministry of Justice.

Between January and April 2017, the senior official had taken notes after seven meetings with Donald Trump.

According to some excerpts published in the press, the president had asked him to abandon the investigation against one of his advisers implicated in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

This information precipitated the appointment of the special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who investigated for nearly two years a possible collusion between Moscow and the campaign team of billionaire New York.

Furious, Donald Trump repeatedly accused James Comey of being a "liar" and organizing these leaks.

The former head of the FBI broke free from the rules by keeping copies of his notes at home, sharing them with his lawyers, and allowing one of them to pass passages to a journalist. the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.

The notes provided did not, however, contain any classified information, said the independent authority charged with investigating possible abuses in ministry-dependent entities.

"Comey had other legal options at his disposal to advocate for the appointment of a special prosecutor, which was his goal," writes the Inspector General, accusing him of giving "a bad example" to 35,000 employees organisation.

Despite these criticisms, James Comey immediately pointed out on Twitter that the inspector had "found no evidence" of leakage "classified information".

"I do not need a public apology from those who have defamed me, but a little message, with + sorry we lied about you +, would be nice," he added.

The appointment of a special prosecutor has poisoned Donald Trump's mandate for nearly two years.

In his April announcement, Robert Mueller explained that he had not found evidence of an agreement between Moscow and the Trump campaign, while listing a series of troubling presidential pressures on his investigation.

© 2019 AFP