Report rebukes Comey’s actions
Watchdog finds he broke protocol, but not because of political bias
WASHINGTON – Former FBI Director James Comey broke FBI and Justice Department protocol in his handling of the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, but Comey was not motivated by political bias when he cleared Clinton of criminal wrongdoing, according to a longawaited report released Thursday by a watchdog official for the Justice Department.
“While we did not find that these decisions were the result of political bias on Comey’s part, we nevertheless concluded that by departing so clearly and dramatically from FBI and department norms, the decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in the report. The 568-page document focused on the FBI’s handling of the investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Comey wrote on Twitter that he thought the report’s conclusions were “reasonable,” even though he disagrees with some of them.
While Horowitz didn’t find political bias by Comey, he did uncover more anti-Donald Trump emails from a pair of FBI officials who were involved in an extramarital affair.
The report says bureau lawyer Lisa Page wrote to counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok in a text message: “(Trump’s) not ever going to become president, right?” In response, Strzok, who helped oversee the Clinton email investigation, wrote: “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it.”
Horowitz acknowledged in December that his inquiry into the Clinton case had unearthed anti-Trump text messages between the two. Horowitz notified special counsel Robert Mueller about the texts because Strzok was on Mueller’s team for the separate Russia investigation. Mueller promptly removed Strzok from his staff. Page, who had also been on Mueller’s staff,