The long awaited Inspector General report is about to be made public.
That’s bad news for James Comey.
And the document uses one word to describe the former FBI Director that confirmed everyone’s worst fears.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report takes dead aim at James Comey’s conduct during the 2016 election.
A source that had seen the report told ABC news it would come down hard on Comey’s judgment and that Horowitz’s findings conclude that Comey’s actions were “insubordinate.”
ABC reports:
“The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has concluded that James Comey defied authority at times during his tenure as FBI director, according to sources familiar with a draft report on the matter.
One source told ABC News that the draft report explicitly used the word “insubordinate” to describe Comey’s behavior. Another source agreed with that characterization but could not confirm the use of the term.”
The report’s negative findings center on Comey releasing a letter to Congress in late October informing members that Comey was reopening the Clinton email investigation.
ABC reports a source told them Comey took that action despite senior Justice Department officials warming him not to:
“Before Comey sent the letter to Congress, at least one senior Justice Department official told the FBI that publicizing the bombshell move so close to an election would violate longstanding department policy, and it would ignore federal guidelines prohibiting the disclosure of information related to an ongoing investigation, ABC News was told.”
This account also calls into question Comey’s honesty.
In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Comey claimed he never would have sent the letter to Congress if Lynch ordered him not to because he “believed in the chain of command.”
Horowitz’s report makes it clear Comey was lying in that interview.
The Inspector General report also backs up the letter Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wrote explaining why Trump fired Comey.
Rosenstein stated Comey was out of a job because,
“Concerning his letter to the Congress on October 28, 2016, the Director cast his decision as a choice between whether he would “speak” about the FBI’s decision to investigate the newly-discovered email messages or “conceal” it. “Conceal” is a loaded term that misstates the issue. When federal agents and prosecutors quietly open a criminal investigation, we are not concealing anything; we are simply following the longstanding policy that we refrain from publicizing non-public information. In that context, silence is not concealment.”
The media claimed Trump fired Comey because of the Russian investigation.
But his full remarks to NBC’s Lester Holt make it clear Trump knew firing Comey meant the probe would go on longer, so he fired Comey because he wanted the investigation run properly.
That answer is fully consistent with Rosenstein’s letter outlining the reasons why Comey was fired.
And the Inspector General report confirms Trump’s fears that Comey was a grandstanding glory hound who could not be trusted to follow established protocol while conducting a high profile investigation.
Do you agree with Trump’s decision to fire Comey?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
