President Trump went off on former FBI Director James Comey following the release of the Justice Department inspector general’s report.
The report, which was released Thursday morning, details Comey’s handling of “sensitive information.” The investigation found “no evidence” that the former FBI director or his attorneys “released any of the classified information” to the press.
However, Inspector General Michael Horowitz did fault Comey for his behavior, saying that he “violated Department or FBI policy” through his “retention, handling, and dissemination of certain Memos.” Horowitz also criminally referred the former FBI director to the Justice Department for his behavior, but the agency opted not to prosecute.
The report concluded that Comey “failed to live up to this responsibility. By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.”
Comey, who was fired by the president in May 2017, took a victory lap on social media saying that he doesn’t “need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice.”
“James Comey is a proven liar and leaker,” the White House said in a Thursday statement. “The Inspector General’s report shows Comey violated the most basic obligations of confidentiality that he owed to the United States Government and to the American people, ‘in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.’ Because Comey shamefully leaked information to the press — in blatant violation of FBI policies — the Nation was forced to endure the baseless politically motivated, two-year witch hunt. Comey disgraced himself and his office to further a personal political agenda, and this report further confirms that fact.”
The president pushed back on Comey’s request for an apology on social media.
Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2019
“Perhaps never in the history of our Country has someone been more thoroughly disgraced and excoriated than James Comey in the just released Inspector General’s Report. He should be ashamed of himself!” the president tweeted Thursday afternoon.
