The Justice Department inspector general is set to release a report on fired FBI Director James Comey’s conduct in the Trump-Russia investigation, according to multiple sources, and it is expected to “strongly rebuke” him. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York reported that “the specific timing of the report’s release is not clear,” however some conservative pundits were saying Wednesday night that the report could be released as early as Thursday.
The Comey report is separate from the larger inspector general report on the DOJ and FBI’s surveillance activities during the 2016 election, which is expected to be released later. There will be four separate reports into the deep state’s election year misconduct.
According to the Examiner:
Among other things, Comey has been under investigation for his handling of several memos he wrote memorializing conversations with President Trump. The memos began in January 2017, when Trump was still president-elect, and continued until April 2017, the month before Trump summarily fired the FBI director.
Comey’s memos were, at the least, confidential FBI documents, and at most, in some cases, classified. Comey told Congress that he sent some of the memos to a friend for the purpose of being leaked to the New York Times. Comey hoped media reports would set off a firestorm that would ultimately result in the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the Trump-Russia matter.
That is precisely what happened with the appointment of Robert Mueller.
Nearly a month ago, The Hill’s John Solomon reported that the IG’s report on Comey was expected to be “damning” and that the Comey memo matter had been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws. As PJ Media reported at the time, DOJ prosecutors under Attorney General William Barr decided not to prosecute Comey for the alleged infractions.
Reportedly, the separate Comey report will only deal with the memos, not the broader FISA abuse allegations.
But Comey also played a starring role in the FBI’s effort to obtain a secret court warrant to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The FBI cited allegations from the mostly-discredited Steele dossier and media reports based on the dossier in its application for the warrant.
According to Washington, D.C., attorney Joe diGenova, the IG has determined that all four FISA warrants against Page were illegally obtained.
“I can report categorically that the inspector general has found that all four FISA warrants were illegal. They were based on false information supplied to the FISA Court. And Michael Horowitz has concluded that all four FISA warrants were illegal,” diGenova told WMAL on Monday.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity opened his show with the breaking Comey news Wednesday night, saying: “We are told that the report will strongly rebuke the disgraced former director,” he said. The report “will document his utter lack of candor — that means lying!” Hannity added. “We’re also being told the report the inspector general is putting out tomorrow has referred Comey for federal prosecution for stealing government documents, leaking confidential memos that detailed conversations with the president, a clear violation of the Espionage Act.”
The host continued: “These documents were so sensitive, one month after he was fired by President Trump, FBI agents showed up at the disgraced former director’s front door to retrieve the memos and interrogate Comey about his rampant misconduct.”
Hannity reiterated what Solomon reported last month.
“As of right now, the attorney general — well — he has reportedly decided not to at this moment charge Comey over this criminal referral,” he said, but added, “this is just a tiny piece of what the bigger report will be and the three major reports that are coming.”
Hannity added, “Without a doubt, Comey should be sweating a lot tonight about what might be in those reports.”
UPDATE:
The report has been released and can be viewed here.
I’m still reading the 79-page report, but here are some key findings:
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway has more on Twitter:
IG Report on Comey’s handling of classified memos is out. Page 2 says Comey specifically asked his friend to leak a memo to Michael Schmidt of the NYT. Schmidt regularly received and regurgitated leaks that falsely suggested a treasonous Russia collusion conspiracy existed.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 29, 2019
Page 4: Comey claimed the memos he leaked in retaliation for President Trump’s firing of him were personal but “Merely labeling a document as ‘personal’ or ‘private’ does not alter the official nature of a document if it is ‘used in the transaction of public business.’
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 29, 2019
Page 56: “Comey violated FBI policies and the requirements of his FBI Employment Agreement when he sent a copy of Memo 4 to Richman with instructions to provide the contents to a reporter”
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 29, 2019
Comey didn’t just violate Trump’s civil liberties with his leaks, IG says on Page 60: “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.”
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 29, 2019
Comey’s own staff on his leaking against Trump for vengeance: “Comey’s closest advisors used the words ‘surprised,’ ‘stunned,’ ‘shocked,’ and ‘disappointment’ to describe their reactions to learning what Comey had done.” Page 61.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 29, 2019
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