Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., agrees with the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General report’s conclusion that detailed misconduct of how the FBI managed its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and urged for the agency to “fully cooperate with congressional oversight examining the use of authority and resources provided to the FBI by Congress.”
[READ: DOJ inspector general’s report on Hillary Clinton email investigation]
“The American people expect their most powerful law enforcement agency to act with professionalism and in accordance with established policies designed to guard against its power being used based on political assumptions or bias,” Ryan said in a statement. “The Inspector General report documents how time and again particular senior FBI officials, starting with Former Director Comey, made ad hoc, poorly reasoned decisions that were premised in part on an expectation that Secretary Clinton would win the election.”
“I agree with the Inspector General’s conclusion that agents’ use of FBI systems and equipment to mix work decisions with blatant political bias injured the ‘heart of the FBI’s reputation for neutral fact-finding and political independence.’ I know that the FBI is home to many dedicated public servants, and Director Wray now has an enormous responsibility to earn back the public’s trust in this institution,” he added. “One way to win back that trust is to fully cooperate with congressional oversight examining the use of authority and resources provided to the FBI by Congress.”
My statement on the Department of Justice Inspector General report→ pic.twitter.com/ZfIOIOj7gG
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 14, 2018
The comments come after the report by Michael Horowitz determined that former FBI Director James Comey was “insubordinate” and “affirmatively concealed” his intentions from leadership at the agency regarding the investigation on Clinton’s emails.
But the report ultimately determined that the at times improper behavior was exhibited from the FBI, the actions did not alter the results of the Clinton investigation.
“[W]e did not find documentary of testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative decisions discussed below, or that the justifications offered for these decisions were pretextual,” Horowitz wrote.
Comey responded to the results of the reports on Thursday in an opinion piece for the New York Times and on Twitter, where he argued he did not agree with all of the conclusions found in the report, but respects the inspector general office.
“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,” Comey tweeted. “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.”
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
