Michael Horowitz is an Obama appointee who started this review long ago. But Trump hopes to use his findings to discredit Comey.
A hotly anticipated inspector general report about then-FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is finally complete. It’s set to be released to Congress Thursday afternoon — and is guaranteed to become a lightning rod in President Trump’s clashes with his own Justice Department.
We’re still awaiting the full text, but Chris Strohm of Bloomberg News reports that the IG’s conclusions include the following:
1) Comey’s actions in the Clinton case departed “clearly and dramatically from FBI and department norms” and hurt the “perception of the FBI” — but they weren’t the result of “political bias.”
2) Specifically, it was not Comey’s job to publicly proclaim what a “reasonable prosecutor” should do in the Clinton case — the FBI is supposed to investigate, while the Justice Department makes charging decisions.
3) Texts between affair-having FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page did have political bias, but the IG found no evidence that “improper considerations” affected their investigative actions in the Clinton case.
Michael Horowitz, the inspector general writing the report, is an Obama appointee, and when he first announced he was reviewing the DOJ and FBI’s actions all the way back in January 2017, many Clinton supporters eagerly hoped he would take Comey to task for actions that they felt inappropriately affected the presidential election.
But we now live in a world where former FBI Director James Comey is a prominent critic of Trump and an important witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the president obstructed justice.
Even though Horowitz’s report isn’t about the Russia investigation at all, it will be released in a political context dominated by both Mueller’s probe and Trump’s attacks on his Justice Department. Indeed, Trump has recently signaled that he’s eagerly anticipating the IG report, since it was expected to criticize Comey, and he is trying to undermine Comey’s credibility.
However, commentators on all sides of the political spectrum had — and still have — reasonable complaints about Comey’s unusual choices during the 2016 campaign.
Horowitz has spent six years in the IG job, has a good reputation, and is by all appearances nonpartisan. Furthermore, the inspector general operates with a measure of independence from government higher-ups. Now he’s about to walk into the most dangerous political maelstrom he’s faced yet. But to understand the new report, you have to first understand the inspector general role — and Horowitz himself.
CONTINUED:
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/14/17448960/inspector-general-report-justice-fbi-clinton-emails-comey
.
A hotly anticipated inspector general report about then-FBI Director James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is finally complete. It’s set to be released to Congress Thursday afternoon — and is guaranteed to become a lightning rod in President Trump’s clashes with his own Justice Department.
We’re still awaiting the full text, but Chris Strohm of Bloomberg News reports that the IG’s conclusions include the following:
1) Comey’s actions in the Clinton case departed “clearly and dramatically from FBI and department norms” and hurt the “perception of the FBI” — but they weren’t the result of “political bias.”
2) Specifically, it was not Comey’s job to publicly proclaim what a “reasonable prosecutor” should do in the Clinton case — the FBI is supposed to investigate, while the Justice Department makes charging decisions.
3) Texts between affair-having FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page did have political bias, but the IG found no evidence that “improper considerations” affected their investigative actions in the Clinton case.
Michael Horowitz, the inspector general writing the report, is an Obama appointee, and when he first announced he was reviewing the DOJ and FBI’s actions all the way back in January 2017, many Clinton supporters eagerly hoped he would take Comey to task for actions that they felt inappropriately affected the presidential election.
But we now live in a world where former FBI Director James Comey is a prominent critic of Trump and an important witness in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of whether the president obstructed justice.
Even though Horowitz’s report isn’t about the Russia investigation at all, it will be released in a political context dominated by both Mueller’s probe and Trump’s attacks on his Justice Department. Indeed, Trump has recently signaled that he’s eagerly anticipating the IG report, since it was expected to criticize Comey, and he is trying to undermine Comey’s credibility.
However, commentators on all sides of the political spectrum had — and still have — reasonable complaints about Comey’s unusual choices during the 2016 campaign.
Horowitz has spent six years in the IG job, has a good reputation, and is by all appearances nonpartisan. Furthermore, the inspector general operates with a measure of independence from government higher-ups. Now he’s about to walk into the most dangerous political maelstrom he’s faced yet. But to understand the new report, you have to first understand the inspector general role — and Horowitz himself.
CONTINUED:
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/14/17448960/inspector-general-report-justice-fbi-clinton-emails-comey
.
