Comey too bold, but probe legit
It was botched, but not biased.
The Justice Department’s watchdog found former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” and broke with protocol in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, but his decisions were not driven by political bias.
An exhaustive 500-page report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz released Thursday throws cold water on President Trump’s claims of political prejudice in the highest ranks of the FBI.
However, the report finds that Comey (inset) “deviated” dramatically from FBI and Justice Department procedures in 2016 as he made public statements about the election year probe into Clinton.
The former G-man and others probing Clinton also used private email accounts and laptops for government business, according to the report.
The irony of that revelation was not lost on Clinton, whose usage of a private email server for official business was the basis of the FBI’s investigation.
“But my emails,” Clinton tweeted, riffing on the phrase Democrats have used to criticize the FBI probe into — and Republican obsession about — her email usage.
Horowitz hammered Comey for his choice to publicly announce in July 2016 his recommendation against criminal charges for Clinton, and his disclosure to Congress days before the election that the investigation was being revived because of newly discovered emails.
The report criticizes Comey for not keeping then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other Justice Department superiors properly informed about his handling of the investigation — but does not challenge his conclusions.
Comey’s actions “negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice.”
Trump and other Republican critics have railed against Comey and the FBI. The President, who fired Comey last year, has labeled the FBI “tainted” and said its reputation is “in tatters” as a result of the actions of the former director and his top investigators.
Comey defended himself in a statement, saying he respects the inspector general’s office but disagrees with some of the findings.
“The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some,” he said. “People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no director faces it again. Thanks to IG’s people for hard work.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the report "reaffirmed the President’s suspicions about Comey’s conduct and about the political bias of some members of the FBI.”
The report also includes a text from an FBI agent who worked on the Clinton investigation that says “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming President. Previous political texts between agent Peter Strzok, who worked on both the Clinton probe and Mueller’s investigation, and FBI lawyer Lisa Page have become fodder for the President’s ire. While the latest message is sure to stoke Trump’s anger, Horowitz found that the pair didn’t allow their opinions to influence their work.
“We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed,” Horowitz writes in the report. But, he added, the “conduct by these employees cast a cloud over the entire FBI investigation.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters at the bureau’s Washington headquarters that the IG report left him “disappointed,” but stressed it found no semblance of political bias.
The conduct highlighted by the IG has been referred to the FBI’s disciplinary arm, Wray said, declining to elaborate, citing internal protocol. “We will not hesitate to hold people accountable,” Wray added.
Aside from their broadsides against the FBI, Trump and Republicans have also charged that Lynch and other officials in the Obama administration were too soft on Clinton. Trump often led chants of “Lock her up” at campaign rallies in 2016.