IG report on Clinton email probe reveals FBI agent's 'stop'-Trump text, calls Comey 'insubordinate'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, in a comprehensive and at-times scathing report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, exposed extraordinary text messages by a top FBI official vowing to "stop" Donald Trump -- while calling then-director James Comey's actions in the case "insubordinate."
The long-awaited report was released Thursday afternoon, spanning nearly 600 pages and scrutinizing the actions of numerous figures who played a key role in the Justice Department and FBI's investigation. It is the product of an 18-month review, incorporating dozens of witness interviews and hundreds of thousands of documents.
But one of the most stunning findings concerns texts between agent Peter Strzok and bureau colleague Lisa Page.
According to the report, Page texted Strzok in August 2016 and said: “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!”
“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.
Strzok was a lead investigator on the Clinton case and later worked the Russia investigation before being removed from that assignment.
Republican lawmakers press FBI espionage chief Bill Priestap on his former number two's role in the Clinton email and Russia investigations; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports.
“In particular, we were concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the IG report said.
Still, the report said investigators found “no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations.”
Months ago, Horowitz revealed other anti-Trump texts between the two FBI officials, who were romantically involved. The "stop" Trump text goes further, and fueled claims from the White House that the bureau was biased against him.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the report "reaffirmed the president's suspicions about Comey's conduct and the political bias amongst some of the members of the FBI."
Former FBI Director James Comey, author of the new book 'A Higher Loyalty,' opens up in part 2 of his interview with 'Special Report' anchor Bret Baier.
The FBI, in its response to the review, said the inspector general “found no evidence to connect the political views expressed by these employees with the specific investigative decisions.”
But it said the inspector general has referred five employees for investigation into whether the messages violated the FBI’s Offense Codes and Penalty Guidelines.
Horowitz’s investigation looked at a variety of other allegations, including whether it was improper for Comey to make a public announcement recommending against prosecution over the Clinton email arrangement while calling her actions "extremely careless."
"We found that it was extraordinary and insubordinate for Comey to conceal his intentions from his superiors, the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, for the admitted purpose of preventing them from telling him not to make the statement, and to instruct his subordinates in the FBI to do the same," Horowitz’s report says.
Comey responded to the report on Thursday by tweeting that he believes the “conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some.”
“People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently,” Comey said.
Trump fired Comey in May 2017, citing the Clinton email probe -- though he later cited the Russia probe as well.
The report also faults the FBI – and specifically Strzok – for not acting quickly enough after the discovery of Clinton emails on the laptop of ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner in the fall of 2016. The report says Strzok and others argued that the Russia investigation was a “higher priority” at the time than reviewing the laptop.
“We found this explanation unpersuasive and concerning,” the report said, noting the FBI could have gotten a search warrant in late September, but waited more than a month to do so -- ultimately revisiting the case days before the election. Clinton has long said that announcement contributed to her defeat. But the report also suggested that Strzok, ironically, may have acted out of bias for Clinton in slow-walking the laptop review.
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is suing the DOJ, FBI for wrongful termination and defamation; Ed Henry reports.
Based on the Strzok text messages, the report said, “We concluded that we did not have confidence that this decision by Strzok was free from bias.”
In the report, Horowitz also criticized then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s infamous meeting on an Arizona tarmac with former President Bill Clinton just days before the FBI decided it would not recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton.
The report said investigators "found no evidence" of an "inappropriate discussion." But it found that Lynch’s "failure to recognize the appearance problem created by former President Clinton’s visit and to take action to cut the visit short was an error in judgment."
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said in a statement the report shows “an alarming and destructive level of animus displayed by top officials at the FBI.”
Other Republican lawmakers pounced on the newly revealed Strzok text.
“In Louisiana, we call that bias, we don't call that objective,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime” on Thursday.
Strzok had been assigned to Robert Mueller’s special counsel probe, but has since been reassigned. Page later resigned.
House memo ahead of IG testimony cites FBI email on foreign actors gaining access to Clinton emails. Catherine Herridge reports.
An attorney for Strzok, Aitan Goelman, denied the agent’s personal political views influenced his work. “His dedication to unbiased service is a fact that would be universally echoed by the thousands of people who have worked with Pete during his 26 years of service in the FBI and U.S. Army,” Goelman said.
The final report could lead to repercussions for some in the DOJ and FBI.
Attorney general on Fox News report that Deputy AG Rosenstein threatened to subpoena GOP lawmakers and why he limited the criteria for asylum-seekers. #Tucker
Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the report “reveals a number of significant errors by the senior leadership of the Department of Justice and the FBI during the previous administration.”
In an interview with The Hill’s new web show “Rising” on Wednesday, Sessions said the option of “termination” is on the table for those accused of serious wrongdoing. Some of the key figures, though, have already been fired or left the government.
A related review already has put former top FBI official Andrew McCabe in legal jeopardy. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog sent a criminal referral for McCabe in April to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.
That was in response to Horowitz’s finding that McCabe leaked information to the press and later lied about it to Comey and federal investigators, prompting Sessions to fire him in March. The Washington Post reported that Comey has since been questioned by the U.S. attorney’s office as part of a McCabe investigation.
In his report Thursday, Horowitz also reviewed the circumstances of whether McCabe should have recused himself earlier from the Clinton probe because of his family’s ties to the Democratic Party.
McCabe’s wife took campaign money from a group tied to then-Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally, during her unsuccessful run for office in Virginia in 2015. McCabe did not recuse himself until a week before the 2016 election.
Horowitz said McCabe “did not fully comply with his recusal in a few instances” related to the Clinton Foundation investigation. He also said the FBI’s ethics officials and attorneys “did not fully appreciate the potential significant implications” to McCabe and the FBI from campaign contributions to his wife’s campaign.
An attorney for McCabe, Michael Bromwich, said in a Thursday statement that “any and all claims that political bias or political influence affected Mr. McCabe’s actions” are “entirely baseless.”
In a New York Times op-ed on Thursday, Comey stood by his decision not to recommend prosecuting Clinton over her emails while secretary of state.
“The report also resoundingly demonstrates that there was no prosecutable case against Mrs. Clinton, as we had concluded,” Comey said. “Although that probably will not stop some from continuing to claim the opposite is true, this independent assessment will be useful to thoughtful people and an important contribution to the historical record.”
Fox News’ Catherine Herridge, Judson Berger, Bill Mears, Jake Gibson and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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Tarmacs and emails front page news.
Russian connections and Russian oligarch money a secret.
As far as those who had a dislike for Trump----------well, those people are out there.
Tarmacs and emails front page news. Very bad optics and someone actually did hack the account. This is what really happened.
Russian connections and Russian oligarch money a secret. No secret, it's all out in the open, benign, and legal. No crimes committed Products of a wild imagination.
Yup, another thing Comey smoothed over.
You forgot the key word in your post...…..now. Comey kept this part secret until after the election, what effect do you think it would have had on the election if it had come out BEFORE the election that Trumps campaign had Russian connections? Maybe the same result releasing a false story about Hillary emails eight days before the election?
I thought we had an agreement Texan. But, to answer this I'll just say one thing, the emails might have been real but, the idea that they in anyway proved Clinton guilty of anything was false and, is false.
I can only imagine the lefts response if anybody investigating Trump had said about Clinton, "Don't worry. We'll stop her from becoming president."
E.A Yes just imagine how the " Democrats " would have taken that as a democratic rights of the Voters!! But then again they know that the US of A is not a Democracy!
Since some of these clowns were involved in the Mueller investigation, it would appear that whole investigation has been compromised and tainted.
So you don't believe the findings of the report?
No...it's just more left leaning bias.
Thanks for illustrating that no amount of investigation, no matter how thorough , will convince sycophants.
That's a strong argument against acquiescing to demands to investigate the investigators.
How exactly is the FBI leaning to the left? How is announcing to the world that Hillary was under investigation..."helping" her? Do tell.
Comey's October surprise did just that.
Comeys surprise was not intentionally meant to hurt Clinton. Comey wouldn't have bothered to "check the polls" first if he'd been trying to hurt Clinton. He was just trying to cover his own butt.
Not meant to, but it did. Along the same lines, Comey did NOT mention ongoing investigations into Trump malfeasance. The only person hurt by Comey was Clinton.
IF Comey was trying to cover his own butt, as you put it, then why didn't he reveal the FBI investigation into Russia and the Trump campaigns connections? Seems kind of fishy. Also, why not just do as his superiors said and, not present the October surprise at all?
Just keep digging there.
From the report:
OK, so, tell us lawyer Gregg were did you get your law degree? You're telling us that you know more than the people in the IG or, the DOJ about the law than they do? Really?
It sure as hell requires knowledge that it was:
BTW, define 'gross negligence'.
And example of gross negligence:
You are driving down the road while eating a hamburger when you take your hand off the wheel to tune in your radio because of loss of signal.
So since you started by insisting that the statute doesn't require intent, we'll stick with the legal definitions.
BOTH of those definitions require INTENT.
Still, the report said investigators found “no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations.”
Let's make sure we understand that sentence. There was plenty of bias found, but there was no evidence that bias effected the conclusions of prosecutors. A few cable "news" stations were falsely claiming that there was no bias found and they made the claim repeatedly.
No disputing the personal bias that is evidenced by the IG report. Stunning was the trail left for all to read!
Thankful the IG found bias wasn't a factor in the FBI carrying out their responsibilities. That was the question I personally needed answered. Seems many accept this truth and yet much to my dismay I'm hearing "the IG got it wrong".
Still reading through the entire 568 pages, so far I've found it to be comprehensive and thorough.
Another big finding of the IG report was that "there was a culture of leaking at the FBI". Something FBI Director promised to fix during his press conference after the report was released
E.A NO Govern Ment can operate with out Leaks!!!
Evidently
Exactly, we have had leakers since the beginning of our government, it's how our FREE PRESS gets its news about the government.
So it's altogether fitting and proper for the pols to collude with the press to share and release state secrets and other confidential national security information??
Did I say that? No, but, since the beginning of our country it is what has been done, I'm thinking of one of the biggest leaks of government secrets that got a president removed from office, it was called Watergate.
Vic, for months you have been one of the ones saying "wait for the IG report" under the theory it would justify your deep state nonsense. It doesn't. You need to take a deep breath and go back to the drawing board. Along with all your compadres here.
JR - Agree! I recall inquiring, once the IG report were released would it be believed. Is the report damning of actions and decisions made, yes. Criminal, no. Need of reforms, yes.
Mr. Wray accepts the full report, outlined improvements...I suppose he's now part of the FBI scum we're hearing about?
The true believers on the right will always find a way to move on to the next conspiracy.
Trying to understand WHY. I get that perception is our individual reality. Yet at some point, when reality slams you in the face with factual information why do perceptions remain the same?
For me, regardless of political leanings, if an American is unable to recognize positive and negative stances within their own party leadership...we're headed toward dictatorship as a ruling principle. Perhaps a dying breed, I believe compromise is the ONLY way to insure the strength of our Republic and it democratic principles.
Kelly Anne Conway , with quite a straight face, once said that President Trump and his spokesman were presenting an "alternate truth". Trump likes the concept of "alternative facts" because if there are alternative facts available then he can never be wrong. And we know his aversion to being wrong about anything.
The internet is to "blame" for all this. It encourages "alternative facts".
I got a laugh out of Trump's statement that "I may stand before you in six months and say I was wrong", since he couldn't let a full second pass before blurting out that he would never admit that. He makes idiocy into an art form.
Hell yeah...along with "Comey's going to prison after the report" "Clinton's going to get hers after the IG report comes out"
So far, the IG says No and No...
The right just got all their bullshit wiped in to their face and still trying to put words in the IG's mouth.
Last great words I heard from Vic was "I'll back the IG's report 100%, I doubt you will" in response to me.
Well, I have no problem with the IG's report....Hmm.
That begs the question: How do you compromise with a Party that has it's own set of facts?
That certainly presents a roadblock
The right wingers of Newstalkers are an embarrassment. The rightwingers of this country are an embarrassment.
Seriously, all of you should be ashamed of yourselves. For MONTHS going on years you all have been screeching "lock her up" , more recently based on the idea that the IG report would reveal a deep state conspiracy to protect Clinton , Lynch, Obama, Mueller, etc. .
The report comes out and totally disproves your crackpot theories.
Do you stop with your insanity? Hell no.
There is strong reason for reasonable people to be ashamed of what the right is doing to this country. Hopefully the fall elections will rectify some of this.
Oh no it doesn't Johnny...it simply muddies and befouls the swamp even further. All the evidence we've seen so far proves that the higher ups in the FBI and DOJ were indeed biased and corrupt, and that this taint likely extended into the Mueller investigation. They were protecting Hildabeast. You can spin it any way you want, but you can't change the facts of what was going on. It's called Reality 101
FACT, Hillary Clintons campaign was harmed by Comey's October surprise, FACT, Comey decided to keep the Russia investigation and, Trumps campaign involvement secret until after the election, FACT, both facts I've just stated were in the IG report so, using logic as a base here, Comey helped Trump get elected by hurting the Clinton campaign and, keeping key information on the Trump campaign secret. In other words, Comey helped elect Trump.
No, Comey and Lorreta's every act was to protect the first female president of the United States. That didn't work out. Now we'll have to wait for Nikki Haley.
The IG report disproves everything you are saying.
It is a waste of time for anyone to respond to you or even read your comments.
John, although this comment isn't a violation, it is also not being a good host to your article. All comments with content should be considered.
Probably, if she can keep from drinking any more Trump Kool-aid.
Nikki Haley is very conservative. While I think she would project decorum and decency, her policies would be very bad for the country.
That's why I added the caveat John, I think she would do what is right for the country, IMO, she is the only one out of the Trump camp that has gone against some of the Trump propaganda.
I can respect that but, I have to add that some conservatives are worth trusting......to a point.
Which you state despite all evidence to the contrary.
Since no one by that name was running for president, it's not shocking that they lost.
Who calls Hillary Clinton "Abuela"? I never heard that until you came here. Is that some Alex Jones bullshit?
It's a nickname that her close friends call her. The cons think they are being sly and insulting by using a nickname. Kind of like calling Obama, "Barry", which happens to be what his close friends call him. In an effort to try and use insulting names, they actually look like they really like these two. Pretty funny actually.
Comey found no REASON to prosecute Clinton and the report states that decision was proper.
Were does it say THAT in the report? The FBI makes those decisions every freaking day. Sheesh.
The FBI merely investigates and makes a recommendation about whether charges are appropriate. In this case the AG said in advance that she'd accept whatever recommendation the FBI made. It would be highly unusual and unethical for an AG to prosecute when there's no evidence of a crime anyway.
Sure, and, unicorns line the White House lawn.
It's a pretty simple decision - either there's evidence that a law was broken or there's not.
What you really seem to be whining about is that Lynch and the Clintons are personal friends.
You continue the personal attacks because you know I'm right. You're trying to censor me, and it's not working for you.
The ONLY difference THAT would make is that y'all would be whining more about Lynch than you are about Comey.
I suspect you will be disappointed in the results of the fall elections. The electorate has a lot of collective wisdom and common sense and can plainly see what is going on.
Yep they do, and, the electorate is already showing how it will go.
Yep they do, and they are shying away from the Democrats, the party of intolerance, hate, lies, sore losers, and broken promises.
Tell us again what they offer to the average American citizen other than being anti-Trump. That's not gonna be enough.
Greg, your comments are deadpan comedy fodder, and that is about all they are.
Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, what do these states have in common? Oh yeah, they just elected Democrats to not only state offices but, the Congress when, up until now, they have been Red states.
Is that what the FOX news poll showed....Um, Nope....Dems have a 9 point advantage that is widening....And don't ask again for the link because I already provided it to you twice and both times you disappeared.
That sounds like a good strategy given that the vast majority of Americans oppose your Fuhrer and oppose the GOP's vile agenda.
(Seeder called off topic) Telo
(Skirting the CoC removed) Telo
(Skirting removed again) Telo
Another personal attack.
No "Politics" involved in the FBI fuckups what-so-ever.
The FBI employs 33,000 people and the right wing found ONE person that doesn't like trump....now they say the entire FBI is corrupt. That's some serious spin. I wonder how many FBI employees don't like Hillary? Should investigate that and whoever ends up with the most haters in the FBI wins.... /sarc [eye roll]
Breaking news: Manafort's bail revoked, taken to jail.. LOL
Now that's cause for celebration!
So that makes at least 4 of Trump's campaign officials who are in jail, have pleaded guilty to crimes or are charged with numerous crimes. LOL......no collusion, no collusion.
Exactly which one of those have been indicted, tried or convicted for anything that has to do with the Trump campaign or administration? Let me help you.......absolutely none of them.
Skirting the CoC [ph]
Manafort was trumps campaign manager for 144 days and he has VERY close ties to Putin. Now if he was the only one with ties to putin, I could easily blow it off and say, "big deal". But, the problem is that almost literally every single person on trumps staff has close ties to russia/putin. If you cannot see any ties between trump and putin, you are literally sitting on a raft in the middle of the ocean saying, "water? I don't see any water!!!".
And that chart doesn't even show Trump's ties to the Russian mob.
That is not what was asked. Who gives a shit about people and ties with Russia. Hell, there are probably more people in DC than not that have ties with Russia. Podesta is known to have Russian ties. Do we incarcerate him, too?
The question was....which one of those that were charged, accused, found guilty, whatever, had to do with the Trump campaign or the administration. I answered the question once and I will do it again...just for you
Not a damn one.
Very true.
What a terrible day for the FBI.
It's going to take decades to regain any confidence in the institution, if it can be regained.
Besides Comey going rogue and assuming the role of prosecutor and judge, the blatent different treatment afforded Clinton vs Trump, and the spectacular mishandling of the CLinton investigation, you have FBI describing Trump voters as middle-class to poor ignorant pieces of shit. FBI agents apparently feel free to talk like KKK members did about blacks or British landlords did about their Irish tenants. How can anyone expect justice from such bigots?
How exactly is announcing, twice, that Clinton was under investigation..."helping" her? If anything, Comey threw the election to trump. You are forgetting that the trump campaign was also under investigation by the FBI at the time, but Comey never said a word about it.
Yes having press conferences and sending letters to Congress [then immediately leaked] about the Clinton investigation and saying NOT A PEEP about the Trump investigation.
Actually, the report found the Comey 'mishandled' the PUBLICITY about the Clinton investigation. It found that the investigation was conducted properly and that the findings and decision not to prosecute was proper too.
And?
Please quote the exact statement that was based on RACE or NATIONALITY.
So is it your posit that disagreeing with someone politically is bigoted?
You really had to twist shit to interject your agenda into that one.
BTFW, it bothers me not to be accused of being a bigot, internalizing false accusations isn't healthy.
CoC Violation "BF"
Skirting the CoC "BF"
"You are a conservative, and that alone is good enough for demeaning and insulting you."
Keep up that attitude. Trump couldn't have won without it.
This is the irony of it all, you all elected someone who lives in one of the ivory towers and, fly's over most of America and, looks down on all of ya, gotta love the irony of it.
LOL......not only did you vote for some of the dumbest conservative extremists but you even voted for a guy who belongs to a loony sect which was founded by a white supremacist who said that black folks were the product of sex between man and other animals! In fact that nutty racist sect is still racially segregated today.
And yes, your views in support of Jim Crow laws against LGBT folks are very much the same as the Jim Crow laws 60 years ago. The only difference is which minority group you're targeting for harm. The best part is that it exposes your pathetic need to feel superior to the people you hate, just like it did for those fragile white supremacists.
Jim Crow was a product of the Democrats. I am curious though- were Hillary and Obama carrying on the Jim Crow tradition ten years ago when they both were openly against gay marriage?
It seems the only thing that's changed about southern conservatives in the past 150 years is their party affiliation, otherwise they're the same dumb bigots they've always been. No wonder the confederate states are a solid block of red today......heck even Dixiecrats like Kim Davis have finally got the message that the GOP is the only true home for bigots today.
And yet most of the stories about racism today come from enlightened Northern cities like Philidelphia and Democrat run cities.....
The biggest difference today is that those bigoted Democrats that infested the south for 150 years finally packed up and now live in northern and western cities. The south today is far more diverse than any northern city.
Let me ask you this. If the north is so pure, why haven't African Americans packed up and moved north in droves? I'll answer that for you. It's because they know northerners are far more racist than any southern they have ever encountered. I have been told that.
I used to have arguments with a NV poster named Santa Monican who swore that her city was one of the more diverse city in the country. When I proved that Santa Monica has a less than 3 percent black population and the city in northeast Florida where I live has an almost 30 percent black population, and the biggest ethnic group second to blacks here are Filipinos, one of which I am married to, she went to the liberal standby and called me a bigot. Kinda sounds familar, huh?
Ummmmmm.........they did. You might want to learn about the great African-American migration from about 1916 through about 1970. 6 million black folks fled the benighted Jim Crow south for good, literally almost half of the black population left the south in disgust and in fear for their lives. The need for that migration ended not long after the Civil Rights Act was passed and the south's white supremacist structure was gradually dismantled.
That's not to say that the north was "pure", just that the south was a far far worse place for black folks to live.
.
It's also no surprise that you apparently knew nothing about that aspect of US history.
Because of democratic/liberal Jim Crowe policies. After that, liberals made many northern cities too expensive for African Americans to move to.Just another way of segregation.
Lincoln would be labeled a far left wing liberal by today's standards. Parties have switched sides many times over the decades.
Yep, it seems the only thing that's changed about southern conservatives in the past 150 years is their party affiliation. Once a dumb bigot, always a dumb bigot.
I have heard several African Americans say that about northern and western liberals. Which northern or western city do you live in?
No he wouldn't have. Republicans in the 19th century wanted to free blacks. Democrats wanted to continue to own them. No difference today except democrats have the welfare plantation instead of the cotton plantation to keep tight control of African Americans.