Mary B. McCord

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence conducted a transcribed interview of Mary McCord on November 1, 2017. In that record she stated that because she was a career Department of Justice employee, even as Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security she did not have the authority by statute to sign FISA applications, and that such applications had to go to someone presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed who held the statutory signing authority. She also discussed Carter Page FISA applications / renewals in that interview. Those are her words in an official interview. They are not a confession of a crime. Secondary outlets later wrote that she “authorized” or “approved” Page warrants; that framing is Claims/Commentary here. The transcript distinction — review versus statutory signature — governs the Fact sentences.

Documented: sworn/transcribed interview account of role and signing authority + discussion of Page applications. Not a finding that she signed Page FISA. Not a finding that review equals statutory approval. DOJ OIG Crossfire Hurricane / FISA findings against other personnel are separate — do not collapse them into a personal-crime finding against McCord without the report naming her.

Interview record stands as published. No criminal judgment against McCord for Page FISA located for this file.

In the same November 1, 2017 HPSCI interview, McCord described that after inauguration Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates decided they would brief White House counsel Don McGahn about Michael Flynn’s conversations with Ambassador Kislyak. She testified that she and Yates went to McGahn’s office; James Burnham of White House counsel was also present; Yates did most of the talking; McCord interjected maybe once to clarify; the conversation covered Flynn–Kislyak, concern that Vice President Pence had been given untrue information, and that Flynn had been interviewed by the Bureau. That is her transcribed account of an official act. It is not a Logan Act conviction of Flynn. It is not a personal crime by McCord. Separate Just the News paraphrases of a Mueller-office summary that she called a Logan Act case a “stretch” are secondary reporting — Claims/Words, not upgraded to Fact on this page without the primary Mueller exhibit quoted.

Documented official act: DOJ officials (Yates + McCord) briefed White House counsel on Flynn. Not inventing a “handshake” with Judge Boasberg. Not inventing a Logan Act prosecution decision as her crime.

Flynn’s later case history is separate. No McCord indictment located from this briefing.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Director’s Report on activities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts for calendar year 2021 states that during the reporting period seven appointments were made of six individuals to serve as amici curiae by the FISA courts, and names those individuals: Amy Jeffress, Laura Donohue, Marc Zwillinger, James Orenstein, Mary McCord, and Ben Johnson. Georgetown faculty/ICAP pages describe her as a statutorily designated amicus for FISC/FISCR. Amicus is an advisory designation under 50 U.S.C. § 1803(i). It is not a judgeship. Contemporaneous reporting dated an appointment around April 15, 2021 (Washington Examiner, Federalist, Daily Caller / Epoch Times). James E. Boasberg’s D.C. court bio records him as FISC presiding judge January 2020–May 2021 — calendar overlap with the 2021 appointments window. The AOUSC report says the FISA courts made the appointments; it does not print which judge signed her designation. Do not write that Boasberg “hired” her.

Documented: named on the official amicus appointment list for 2021 + institutional bio claiming FISC/FISCR amicus role. Overlap with Boasberg’s presiding window is calendar fact from separate bios — not a hiring finding. Specific amicus briefs authored by her are not attached as separate Fact packets on this rebuild unless hosted; appointment ≠ each brief.

N/A as personal criminal judgment. Amicus appointment is court process, not a conviction.

A May 2022 order in United States v. Sussmann describes handwritten notes from a March 6, 2017 meeting at FBI headquarters. The court recites the defense proffer: a briefing for then-Acting Attorney General Dana Boente on Russia-related investigations. Attendees from DOJ included Boente, Mary McCord, Tashina Gauhar, and Scott Schools. FBI attendees included Andrew McCabe, James Baker, Trisha Anderson, and William Priestap. The order states the McCord and Gauhar notes suggest McCabe told the group the Alfa Bank allegations were shared by an attorney on behalf of his client, or by an attorney who had a client but did not say who. That is the court describing exhibits. It is not a finding that McCord committed a crime. Sussmann was the defendant. McCord was later described in coverage as a defense witness. The jury verdict is not restated here as a fact about her.

Primary: ECF order language summarizing McCord/Gauhar notes and the attendee list (CourtListener copies archived). Quote the order; do not invent a McCord indictment caption.

Documented presence + notes in a Russia briefing that later became a Durham trial exhibit fight. Not a personal crime finding against McCord.

Sussmann was the charged defendant. No McCord charge located from this meeting.

Her June 9, 2026 House Judiciary witness statement states she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia from 1994 through 2014; moved to Department headquarters in 2014 as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security; became Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security in 2016; served through transition into the Trump Administration before leaving in May 2017; then launched ICAP mid-2017. Georgetown Law’s faculty page matches the Acting AAG / Principal Deputy titles. Fox News carrying Associated Press (April 20 and April 28, 2017) reported her departure window and Dana Boente named acting national-security leader — reporting, not a firing-for-cause finding. March 15, 2017: Fox News Radio summarized a DOJ news conference on Yahoo cyberattack charges at which McCord spoke as a national-security official — a public NSD act, not Russia-probe evidence. Identity is Mary B. McCord tied to Georgetown / ICAP / NSD — not an unrelated local-news namesake.

Primary biography: House Judiciary witness PDF June 9, 2026 + Georgetown faculty page (archived HTML).

Identity and office lock. “Led Russiagate” is opinion — Claims. Yahoo podium is a documented public act in role, not a finding about Page or Flynn.

N/A — appointment / departure. No personal criminal judgment.

Fox News Radio, March 15, 2017, summarized a Justice Department news conference announcing charges in a Yahoo cyberattack and placed McCord among the officials who spoke. That is reporting of a public act in her then-NSD role. A radio summary is not the charging document. The charges belong to the people named in the case. This packet records routine NSD work so 2016–2017 is not treated as a single-subject Russia shop. DOJ’s live press-release URL was bot-blocked on this rebuild; Fox Radio remains the citing secondary for the podium appearance until a DOJ HTML archive is attached.