Comey Broke From FBI Procedures in Clinton Probe, Watchdog Finds
Inspector general probed an array of FBI, Justice decisions
Former FBI Director James Comey "deviated" from FBI and Justice Department procedures in handling the probe into Hillary Clinton, damaging the law enforcement agencies' image of impartiality even though he wasn't motivated by political bias, the department's watchdog found in a highly anticipated report.
"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 said in the report's conclusions, which were obtained Thursday by Bloomberg News.
Horowitz's report examined actions taken by top officials before the 2016 election, including the handling of the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The investigation expanded to touch on an array of politically sensitive decisions by officials including Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
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While the report being sent to Congress on Thursday doesn't deal with the origins of the probe into Russia meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion with those around President Donald Trump, the president and his Republican supporters in Congress are primed to use it as evidence of poor judgment and anti-Trump bias within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department.
In tweets, Trump has said Comey's investigation into Clinton was "phony and dishonest" and that Comey, who he fired on May 9, 2017, left the FBI's reputation in tatters.
Trump's Interest
Trump has expressed great interest in the inspector general's report, as well as some skepticism it might not be as damning as he hoped.
Bloomberg's Alex Wayne discusses the implications of the inspector general's report.
Source: Bloomberg
"What is taking so long with the Inspector General's Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey," Trump tweeted on June 5. "Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!"
Among topics the inspector general reviewed was Comey's announcement in July 2016 that no prosecutor would find grounds to pursue criminal charges against Clinton for improperly handling classified information on her private email server, as well as Comey's decision to inform Congress only days before the election that the Clinton investigation was being re-opened. Comey's public announcement of findings angered Republicans, while his reopening of the inquiry outraged Democrats.
Horowitz found a "troubling lack of any direct, substantive communication" between Comey and Attorney General Lynch ahead of the July 5 press conference and Comey's October 28 letter to Congress.
"We found it extraordinary that, in advance of two such consequential decisions, the FBI director decided that the best course of conduct was to not speak directly and substantively with the attorney general about how best to navigate those decisions."
Lynch had announced that she would go along with whatever Comey recommended with regard to the Clinton case, although she didn't formally recuse herself. Lynch had come under heated criticism for agreeing to meet with former President Bill Clinton in June 2016 on her plane while it was sitting on a tarmac in Phoenix. The two sides have said they didn't discuss anything related to the investigation.
Some of what Horowitz discovered has already been made public.
Anti-Trump Texts
Republican critics seized on revelations from the inspector general that two FBI officials who worked on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, exchanged text messages sharply critical of Trump. Mueller removed Strzok from the inquiry after the texts were discovered, and Page has since left the FBI.
"We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed," Horowitz said in the report to be issued Thursday. "The conduct by these employees cast a cloud over the entire FBI investigation."
The inspector general also released a report in April finding that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe lacked candor on four different occasions regarding interactions with the media, including providing information to a news reporter about the FBI's investigation into the foundation created by Hillary and Bill Clinton. The inspector general has referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for further investigation.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions relied on the report to fire McCabe only hours before he was set to retire and qualify for his full government pension. McCabe and his lawyer have adamantly contested the allegations.
The inspector general also has opened a separate review into whether the Justice Department and FBI followed appropriate procedures in obtaining a secret warrant to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in late 2016 and early 2017.
(Updates with findings on Lynch-Comey communications in ninth paragraph.)