House and Senate Democrats warned their Republican colleagues Thursday to not use the report issued by the Justice Department’s inspector general against special counsel Robert Mueller and his probe into potential Russian coordination with President Trump’s campaign.
In the report released Thursday, Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” and “deviated” from bureau norms by publicly discussing the investigation into Hillary Clinton and not talking to then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch before making decisions.
The report concluded that Comey’s actions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and that he made a “serious error of judgement” when sending a letter to Congress in October 2016, informing lawmakers it was re-opening its investigation into Clinton’s emails.
Though Democrats expressed frustration with Comey on Thursday, they said Republicans should drop their obsession with Clinton now that the IG report found no evidence that political bias affected actions made by department prosecutors.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said Republicans’ “incessant, cynical false attacks” against the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 cycle led to Comey’s lapse in judgment.
“The simple lesson from today’s report is that the FBI should not have buckled under Republican pressure,” Cummings said Thursday. “These policies are intended to keep the FBI from doing exactly what it did – influencing the course of a presidential election.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., piled on, saying Comey’s “mishandling” of the publicity surrounding Clinton’s emails “all accrued to the benefit of then-candidate Trump, not the other way around.”
“Anyone who is hoping to use this report to undermine the Mueller probe or prove existence of a deep state conspiracy against president trump will be sorely disappointed,” Schumer said. “Nothing in this report lays a glove on special counsel Mueller or the ongoing Russia probe. If this was the president’s plan to take down the special counsel, the president swung and missed.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said he hoped that White House and Republican attacks on “virtually everyone” at the DOJ and FBI would “come to a bit of a pause.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoed the sentiment, repeating that the report provides “no basis for the GOP to the challenge the legitimacy of the Mueller investigation.”
“Republicans need to end this and focus on what matters in protecting our democracy,” she said.
Still, Republicans are forging ahead with hearings. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., will call a hearing on the report next week. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said DOJ should have informed Congress months ago about a text written by FBI agent Peter Strzok to an FBI lawyer, assuring that “we’ll stop” Trump.
Democrats said it’s up to FBI Director Christopher Wray to determine if Strzok should be fired, but noted that Thursday’s report found he did not take any actions based on political bias and in some cases pushed for more oversight of Clinton.
“It’s up to Wray,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler when asked if Strzok should be fired. “My personal opinion is no.”
