Trump and his GOP cronies have eagerly anticipated the release of the Department of Justice’s Inspector General report on James Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state. Trump insisted that it would be his birthday gift and, miraculously, the report was released on his birthday. However, that report did not yield the results he hoped for.
So it appears the early conclusion of the IG report — via Bloomberg — is that Comey/FBI took actions that negatively impacted Hillary Clinton in 2016 https://t.co/4DdfjBW783
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) June 14, 2018
Of course, Trump also tried to discredit the report before it was ever released just in case he didn’t get the results he promised his supporters would justify his firing of James Comey and provide a distraction from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the alleged collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian government operatives.
What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018
On Thursday, Trump got part of his wish granted. The IG report was released on his birthday. However, it did not condemn Comey as the GOP would have liked for it to and no evidence of politically motivated bias was found. Bloomberg published an analysis of the report, which included the following quote by Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
‘We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed.’
BOOM! The IG report debunks Trump's claim that Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and James Comey's investigations were affected by political bias. Another LOSS for Trump!https://t.co/WbSKQFokwP
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) June 14, 2018
While the report did say that Comey broke from protocol in his investigation, which at varying times both helped and harmed Clinton, by not fully communicating with Attorney General Loretta Lynch throughout. While this may be a violation of the norms, it also discredits the idea that Comey was being directed by President Obama’s AG during the investigation.
‘We found it extraordinary that, in advance of two such consequential decisions, the FBI director decided that the best course of conduct was to not speak directly and substantively with the attorney general about how best to navigate those decisions.’
The report also concluded that tweets between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page had absolutely no impact on the investigation or its results. It also found that the former FBI Director Comey’s handling of that investigation hurt Clinton and helped Trump.
IG report DESTROYS Trump's narrative on FBI text messages
“We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that improper considerations, including political bias, directly affected the specific investigative actions we reviewed.”
https://t.co/7W7w54fXsm via @bpolitics
— Zac Petkanas (@Zac_Petkanas) June 14, 2018
On behalf of all liberal Democrats, happy birthday, Trump. Your gift is not the one you hoped for and makes you and your friends look like the conspiracy theorists you are as well as absolute idiots.