Listen to “IG Report Blasts Comey, More Scrutiny Coming” on Spreaker.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz blasted former FBI Director James Comey Thursday, accusing him of violating FBI policies and his own employment agreement in an effort to launch a special counsel investigation of President Trump.
The report blasts Comey for keeping personal memos after meeting with President Trump in his capacity as FBI director and then leaking memos to the media after Trump fired him as part of Comey’s effort to trigger a special counsel probe. Then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tapped former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for the job just days after Trump fired Comey.
Former Justice Department official Victoria Toensing, a longtime Comey critic, says this condemnation in the IG report comes as no surprise.
“We knew that there was a recommendation for prosecution, so it wasn’t going to be wine and roses from the IG,” said Toensing.
The Justice Department ultimately decided not to prosecute Comey.
However, Thursday’s report is far from the end for Comey and ongoing review of how the Trump-Russia probe began. In particular, Toensing is looking forward to the next offering from Inspector General Horowitz.
“I’m look for the IG report on the FISA abuse, and certainly Comey was part of that,” said Toensing. “James Comey signed an application to the FISA court that said ‘all the material in here has been verified.’
“We know from (The Hill columnist) John Solomon’s reporting that the FBI had a diagram of a chart of all the accusations and 90 percent was not verifiable,” said Toensing.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Toensing explain why she thinks the Justice Department was absolutely right not to prosecute Comey for mishandling documents and leaking them to the media and why she believes the government must prosecute former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
She also reacts to Comey’s contention that the IG report exonerates him.
