On May 12, 2017, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent visited former FBI Director James Comey's home to collect any government property still in his possession.

President Trump had unceremoniously fired Comey three days earlier while the longtime government official was on a trip to California. But when an FBI team came to Comey's Virginia home, they did not obtain four memos he had penned about his sometimes bizarre interactions with the president.

Comey 'did not tell the FBI that he had copies' of four memos he had written 'in his personal safe,' according to a report by the Justice Department's Inspector General that was released Thursday.

Fired FBI Director James Comey kept copies of four memos he wrote about his strange interactions with President Trump inside a home safe

The team was accompanied by Comey's former chief of staff, James Rybikcki, with whom Comey had shared copies of the memos, although Rybicki didn't have independent knowledge of the safe.

Also there was another FBI official who 'went to another area of the house with Comey while the SSAs inventoried and removed the government property, including electronic devices and documents.'

Part of the report from the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Justice Department is photographed Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Washington. Former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos documenting private conversations with President Donald Trump, the Justice Department's inspector general said. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)

A Feb. 14, 2017, memo that then-FBI director James Comey wrote after meeting with President Donald Trump, that was in the report from the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Justice Department is photographed Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Washington

FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2018, file photo, former FBI Director James Comey speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill Washington. The Justice Department has declined to prosecute Comey over his handling of memos he wrote documenting personal interactions with President Donald Trump

'No hard copy versions of the Memos were found' in the secure area of Comey's home.

It was one of several incidents the IG highlighted in the report, which found he violated FBI policies, although the Justice Department did not recommend prosecution.

'After being removed as Director, Comey did not report to the FBI that he had copies of these Memos,' according to the report.

However about a month later, Comey provided them to special counsel Robert Mueller.

The memos contained explosive information about what the longtime FBI official recorded about his interactions with Trump – including what he said was a request for 'loyalty,' a request to let the matter of fired national security advisor Mike Flynn go, and questions about the golden showers dossier.

The IG found Comey made a duplicate set of 'originals,' which he signed, and which he gave to Rybicki to maintain at the FBI.

Comey told investigators, he considered the memos his personal property, although the IG found they were an official product that belonged to the government.

'Comey told us that he put one original in his personal safe at home, where he stored personal, family-related “things that mean the most” to him.'

As for the security of the safe itself, 'Comey acknowledged that “[i]n theory” his wife also had access to this safe, but told us that at the time, she did not have a key and did not know where he kept his key.'

He told investigators he didn't seek permission to retain the memos because he did not consider them to be FBI records. He told the IG he viewed them 'as personal documents, like his will or his passport.'

He wasn't the only one keeping the explosive memos under lock and key. Top FBI officials who gained access to them said they kept the memos in locked drawers inside secure areas.

Comey says he authorized the release of information in the memos to try to force the appointment of a special counsel.

After the New York Times reported on Comey's 'loyalty' conversation with Trump – whose campaign was being probed over its Russia contacts – the president tweeted that Comey had better hope there were 'no tapes' of their conversations.

Comey says he woke up at 2 am on May 16, 2017 'like, struck by a lightning bolt' and realized that one of his memos – about Trump pressing him on the subject of Flynn – contained information that might force a special counsel to gain hold of any tapes.

“Trump will eventually figure out he shouldn't have said that. And he may well destroy the tapes,' Comey said.

'Lying there, playing this in my mind. And I thought, you know what, I can actually do something. That if I put out into the public square that encounter, that will force DOJ, likely to appoint a Special Counsel to go get the tapes. Or even if they won't do that, it will force them to go get the tapes,' Comey said.

Copies of the memos written by former FBI Director James Comey are photographed in Washington, Thursday, April 19, 2018

He transmitted one of the memos to a friend and lawyer, taking a digital photograph, and telling his friend to take the story to the New York Times. The Times published a story that day. On May 17, Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to oversee the Russia probe.

Portions of the report dealing with other top FBI officials reveal that they, too, put great importance on the Comey memos and the information they contained. Several officials took steps to ensure there were copies of the memos and that they made their way into an FBI system for document preservation.

The memos ended up featuring in the Mueller report, which examined 10 areas of potential obstruction of justice by the president.

The IG faulted Comey for taking actions to leak the memos rather than dealing through official channels – which could have involved taking the matter to Trump-nominated officials.

'On occasion, some [FBI] employees may disagree with decisions by prosecutors, judges, or higher ranking FBI and Department officials about the actions to take or not take in criminal and counterintelligence matters. They may even, in some situations, distrust the legitimacy of those supervisory, prosecutorial, or judicial decisions. But even when these employees believe that their most strongly-held personal convictions might be served by an unauthorized disclosure, the FBI depends on them not to disclose sensitive information,' according to the report.