Then-President Barack Obama’s 2015 comments about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server led to concern among top FBI and Justice Department officials, a new report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog found.
The detailed report, released by the department’s inspector general Thursday, found that FBI officials, as well as prosecutors in the Justice Department, exchanged emails and told the Office of the Inspector General of their issues with the comments made during Obama’s October 2015 interview with “60 Minutes.”
During the interview, Obama said Clinton’s use of a private email server was a “mistake,” but said it did not “pose a national security problem” and was “not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.”
“[W]e opened up criminal investigations. And you have the president of the United States saying this is just a mistake. … That’s a problem, right?” former Executive Assistant Director of the FBI’s National Security Branch John Giacalone told the Justice Department’s watchdog.
That sentiment was echoed by the former assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division, Randy Coleman, who said the bureau had “a group of guys in here, professionals, that are conducting an investigation. And the … president of the United States just came out and said there’s no there there.”
Michael Steinbach, who also formerly served as the executive assistant director for the FBI’s National Security Branch, told the Office of the Inspector General that Obama’s comments created “controversy” within the bureau.
“[Y]ou’re prejudging the results of an investigation before they really even have been started,” he said, according to the report. “That’s … hugely problematic for us.”
Prosecutors within the Justice Department also exchanged emails raising concerns about Obama’s comments to “60 Minutes.”
Top Justice Department official George Toscas responded to an email from David Laufman, chief of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, about the remarks.
“Saw this. And as [one of the prosecutors] and I discussed last week, of course it had no — and will never have any — effect whatsoever on our work and our independent judgment,” Toscas wrote to Laufman.
An unnamed prosecutor told the Office of the Inspector General that Obama’s statement generated “a suspicion that there was a political bias … going on from the Executive Branch.”
Concerns about the statements coming from the White House regarding the Clinton email probe reared again after former White House press secretary Josh Earnest made comments on the investigation during a January 2016 press conference.
When asked whether the White House believed Clinton would be indicted, Earnest told reporters the decision would be made by the Justice Department, but suggested there was communication between the White House and the agency about the Clinton probe.
“What I know that some officials over there have said is that she is not a target of the investigation. So that does not seem to be the direction that it’s trending, but I’m certainly not going to weigh in on a decision or in that process in any way,” he said at the time. “That is a decision to be made solely by independent prosecutors. But, again, based on what we know from the Department of Justice, it does not seem to be headed in that direction.”
Following the press conference, Melanie Newman, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs, sent a transcript of Earnest’s remarks to top Justice Department officials and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“I’ve spoken to the [White House] and asked that they clarify this, to make clear they have no insight into this investigation. And if they don’t correct it, I will. I’m waiting to hear back,” Newman wrote.
Newman told the Justice Department’s watchdog she talked to Earnest about the remarks and said he told her he based his comments on news reports.
Lynch’s chief of staff, though, said some within the department were “very upset” about Earnest’s remarks, according to the report.
Justice Department prosecutors were again worried about Earnest’s comments.
In January 2016, Toscas sent an email to Laufman saying “such irresponsible statements” would not have an impact on the work of investigators.
Lynch later told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a March 2016 hearing that she did not discuss the Clinton email probe with either Obama or other White House officials.
She also told the Justice Department’s watchdog that she remembered Newman of the Office of Public Affairs speaking with the White House communications office following Earnest’s remarks.
