DOJ report finds that James Comey was insubordinate in handling of Hillary email case but that conclusion not to prosecute was correct.

Courtesy of NYT:

The former F.B.I. director James B. Comey was insubordinate in his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, a critical Justice Department report has concluded, according to officials and others who saw or were briefed on it.

But the report, by the department’s inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, does not challenge the decision not to prosecute Mrs. Clinton. Nor does it conclude that political bias at the F.B.I. influenced that decision, the officials said.

“We found no evidence that the conclusions by department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations,” the report said, according to one official who read the sentence to The New York Times. “Rather, we concluded that they were based on the prosecutor’s assessment of facts, the law, and past department practice.”

The report has been highly anticipated in Washington, not least by President Trump, who has argued that a secret coterie of F.B.I. agents rigged the investigation to help Mrs. Clinton win the presidency. The findings, as described by officials who spoke on condition of anonymity before the report’s release Thursday afternoon, cite no evidence to support that theory.

While this seems to vindicate James Comey’s decision not to push for prosecution, it also gives Trump ammunition to justify his firing of Comey. 

According to WaPo it also gives him ammunition against at least one FBI agent:

Perhaps the most damaging new revelation in the report, according to multiple people familiar with it, is a previously unreported text message in which Peter Strzok, a key investigator on both the Clinton email case and the investigation of Russia and the Trump campaign, assured an FBI lawyer in August 2016 that “we’ll stop” Trump from making it to the White House.

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” the lawyer, Lisa Page, wrote to Strzok.

“No. No, he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

The report also says that Strzok may have prioritized the Russia investigation over the Clinton email investigation which makes sense since only the Russia investigation was truly legitimate.

So according to the report James Comey did not handle the Clinton email investigation professionally, which we knew. 

The decision not to prosecute Hillary was justified, which we knew. 

And at least some members of the FBI realized that Donald Trump winning the presidential election presented a danger to the country, which we also knew, and which is being proven virtually every day. 

Update: James Comey has tweeted about this report. 

I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. 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.

— James Comey (@Comey) June 14, 2018

Well, that seems fairly diplomatic.