A generation of top FBI brass will be under a microscope Thursday with the release of an internal watchdog’s report about allegations of misconduct during the 2016 election – and their handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
The Justice Department inspector general’s 18-month review has become the outlet for competing political forces as President Donald Trump tries to fend off his own legal peril from special counsel Robert Mueller. The 500-page report is expected to land on Capitol Hill in the afternoon.
Trump and his allies are wagering heavily on findings by Inspector General Michael Horowitz that former FBI Director James Comey and his top allies made mistakes or violated department standards in the Clinton investigation in ways that would validate the president’s decision last year to fire Comey. Trump’s allies also believe that FBI officials harbored political bias that led them to soft-pedal the Clinton inquiry and ultimately let her off the hook.
It’s a crucial bet because Comey is a central witness in Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s own actions in 2017 and whether he obstructed the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections. In addition to Comey, Trump backers have homed in on private texts between two senior officials that included anti-Trump comments, as well as on discussions about how to characterize the decision not to indict Clinton and the handling of interviews of Clinton and her top aides.
But early indications suggest that Horowitz’s findings may cut against their claims, pointing to Comey’s unusual departure from FBI protocols that hurt Clinton politically in the crucial months of the campaign. In July 2016, Comey bucked the Justice Department and issued a public statement assailing Clinton’s carelessness with classified information, even as he announced the decision to exonerate her. Then, 10 days before the election, he informed Congress that the investigation had been reopened, an explosive development that Clinton has argued contributed to her last-minute plunge. At the same time, he declined to confirm publicly that there was an ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia.
Taken together, though, the stakes may be highest for Trump, who is staring down Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Russian involvement – and whether the president tried to obstruct the probe by pressuring and, ultimately, firing Comey.
Mueller’s case relies in part on Comey’s contemporaneous memos describing interactions with Trump in which he said he felt pressured to pull back from the FBI’s Russia inquiry. Trump has assailed Comey as a liar, and he’s expected to pounce on any findings in the inspector general’s report that might bolster Comey’s claim.
Democrats have expressed confidence in recent days that the report won’t fulfill Trump’s desires. Rather, they expect Comey to be criticized for his actions that hurt Clinton – and for the report to find that the former FBI director spoke honestly with investigators, undercutting claims that he is a liar.
“I suspect it’s going to show that the FBI did not conspire against the Trump campaign,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Nadler suggested that the report might also swipe at Comey for disclosing the Clinton investigation publicly while keeping secret the FBI’s early inquiry into the Trump campaign’s dealings with individuals linked to Russia.
In recent days, Trump and his allies in Congress have raised questions about Horowitz himself, seemingly girding themselves for findings that fall short of their claims of widespread anti-Trump bias. In February, the president questioned whether Horowitz – initially appointed by President George W. Bush – was an “Obama guy.” And last week he complained about delays in releasing the report, insinuating that it could be “made weaker.“
But outside of Trump’s inner circle, support for Horowitz runs high, even among Republicans. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has called him a man of integrity who can be trusted, and has been echoed by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). One of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), calls Horowitz “an honorable, decent man that does a good job.”
“I have no reason not to trust him. He has a good reputation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said of the inspector general in an interview. “I’m going to look at the report from a trusting point of view. Until someone can tell me why I shouldn’t trust him, I do.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) agreed, saying that he is “very confident” in Horowitz’s ability to deliver a fair assessment.
The report is also expected to rebuke Comey’s deputy at the time, Andrew McCabe, for making unauthorized media disclosures and allegedly lying to investigators about it. Aspects of the findings on McCabe were released in March, expedited by Horowitz shortly before McCabe was set to retire with a full pension. Though McCabe denied the allegations, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired him hours before his retirement, and Horowitz referred the matter to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) credited Horowitz with “a good job on Andrew McCabe” and he dinged Comey – but not for the reasons Trump has described.
“I think there’s still this idea out there, at least in Director Comey’s mind, that what he did to Hillary Clinton was sort of acceptable. And it’s not,” Cornyn said. “Usurping the role of the Department of Justice when it comes to charging decisions and then not charging a person with a crime, but then giving a lengthy, derogatory report, is just virtually unheard of.”
Horowitz’s report may also deal with leaks coming from the FBI and Justice Department during the campaign. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer and a former New York City mayor and 2016 campaign surrogate, recently confirmed that he had been interviewed by Horowitz about whether he received leaks from the FBI’s New York office indicating that the investigation into Clinton’s email server had been reopened. Giuliani denied that he’d gotten any inside information and said he expected that aspect of the inquiry wouldn’t amount to anything.
The reports is also likely to address actions taken by lesser-known members of Comey’s inner circle who have received little public attention.
Meadows told POLITICO last week that despite his confidence in Horowitz, he did have lingering questions about a potential gap in the probe. The two people who referred the Clinton matter to the Justice Department were never interviewed, he said, adding that he raised the issue with Horowitz and hoped that it would be addressed in his report. He also said the longer the FBI and Justice Department have to push back on Horowitz’s findings, the more “ambiguity” there may be about the final conclusion.
Other Republicans have raised questions about whether Horowitz – who lacks the authority to call in witnesses who have left the Justice Department and FBI – would have access to all those he needs.
“I counted off the top of my head 24 witnesses that would be outside the reach of the inspector general,” Gowdy told reporters in March, when he and Goodlatte called for the appointment of a special counsel who would have the prosecutorial authority to conduct a fuller inquiry.
Trump’s staunchest allies have also fixated for months on thousands of text messages between an FBI counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok, and a bureau attorney, Lisa Page. In exchanges spanning 2015 through mid-2017, the pair bashed political figures on both sides of the aisle but saved their harshest criticism for Trump. Both were involved in the Clinton investigation and were added to Mueller’s team when he was first appointed – though they were quickly removed after the special counsel discovered their texts.
There has been no evidence that Strzok or Page took any investigative steps intended to boost Clinton or hurt Trump, however. It’s unclear whether Horowitz will find any misconduct by Strzok or Page in performing their official duties.
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