Comey 'Insubordinate,' FBI Not Biased In Clinton Case: IG Report

A highly anticipated report from the Department of Justice's Inspector General found that it was "extraordinary and insubordinate" for former FBI Director James Comey to make a public statement in July 2016 criticizing Hillary Clinton while also announcing that the department would not pursue criminal charges against the former secretary of state. (You can read the full report below)

The report says that the OIG found none of his reasons to be a persuasive basis for deviating from well-established Department of Justice policies. However, the report said investigators found no evidence that Comey's statement was the result of bias or an effort to influence the election.

Regarding the decision not to bring charges against Clinton, the OIG "found no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations, including political bias."

According to the report, Comey began considering making an FBI-only statement as early as late April 2016. He told the OIG of a number of reasons why he did not believe then Attorney General Loretta Lynch could not credibly participate in making an announcement about not bringing charges and said Lynch's tarmac meeting with President Bill Clinton "tipped the scales" towards his making of a separate public statement. The OIG report found no evidence that Clinton and Lynch discussed the investigation during that meeting.

Comey admitted to the IG that he concealed his intentions to make his own public statement till the morning of the press conference. The report said that since Lynch was not recused from the investigation, she should have instructed Comey to tell her what he intended to say beforehand.

The over 500-page report also criticizes the text messages exchanged between the two FBI agents, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok that were critical of Donald Trump. The report said most of those messages were in reference to the Russia investigation, which was not a part of this review but it caused the OIG to question investigative decisions made by Strzok in the Clinton investigation. Despite the concern caused by the text messages, the OIG did not find that political bias affected investigative decisions.

The report said Comey "usurped the authority of the Attorney General, and inadequately and incompletely described the legal position of Department prosecutors."

Investigators also criticized Comey for his decision to notify Congress just days before the election about additional emails pertinent to the investigation found on Anthony Weiner's laptop. While the report said his decision was not influenced by political bias, it said Comey "engaged in ad hoc decisionmaking based on his personal views even it meant rejecting longstanding Department policy or practice." The report acknowledged that Comey faced a difficult situation but concluded that he made a serious error of judgement.

"I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review," Comey wrote on Twitter. "The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some. 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."

In an Op-Ed for The New York Times, published minutes after the report was released, Comey wrote that while he did not agree with every conclusion in the report, he said the document was important for two reasons; as it demonstrated there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and because it is vital for future leaders.

Check back with Patch for updates.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images News/Getty Images