Justice Zeroing In: IG Office Now Investigating James Comey Himself
It looks as though justice has come full circle as Inspector General Michael Horowitz confirmed Monday that his office is investigating former FBI Director James Comey and his handling of classified information.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday, Chairman Chuck Grassley asked Horowitz about Comey’s conduct, specifically regarding memos Comey wrote that described interactions he had with President Donald Trump.
It turns out, the very organization Comey was in charge of — until he was fired in May 2017 — had recommended their director for investigation by Horowitz and his team, The Blaze reported.
“Former Director Comey said on television the inspector general interviewed him about the handling of his memos of conversations with President Trump. Some of those memos contained classified information. Comey said he did not expect a report on his handling of classified information because ‘it’s frivolous,’” Grassley said.
“Are you investigating Comey’s handling of his memos? And does that include the classification issues and should Mr. Comey expect a report when it is complete?” he asked.
“We received a referral on that from the FBI,” Horowitz responded. “We are handling that referral and we will issue a report when the matter is complete.”
Comey told Bret Baier from Fox News in April that he had been interviewed by the IG office, but did not reveal the severity of the questioning over classified information.
This announcement from the inspector general comes a week after a report released by the OIG, which showed Comey also used a private email account to conduct official FBI business.
“We identified numerous instances in which Comey used a personal email account (a Gmail account) to conduct FBI business. We cite five examples of such use in this section and include information provided by Comey and Rybicki about Comey’s use of a personal email account,” the report states.
“Comey stated that he did not use his personal email or laptop for classified or sensitive information, such as grand jury information. Comey told us that he only used his personal email and laptop ‘when I needed to word process an unclassified [document] that was going to be disseminated broadly, [such as a] public speech or public email to the whole organization.’”
“We found that, given the absence of exigent circumstances and the frequency with which the use of personal email occurred, Comey’s use of a personal email account on multiple occasions for unclassified FBI business to be inconsistent with the DOJ Policy Statement,” the report continued.
In a testimony before Congress last year, Comey admitted he shared memos with the intention of leaking to the press and spurring the appointment of a special counsel.
However, he denied that doing so was the same as leaking classified information.
“I didn’t consider it part of an FBI file,” Comey said. “It was my personal aide-memoire…I always thought of it as mine.”
Newsflash to Comey, if eight of the 15 pages of memos handed over to Congress in April had to have redactions due to the sensitivity of the information, the classified information was leaked when it was shared with friends.
Horowitz has already referred the criminal findings on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington. The IG report sent to Congress in April found that McCabe “lacked candor” during multiple discussions with Comey, FBI investigators, and Office of Inspector General investigators regarding leaking sensitive information to the media.
Comey is being investigated for something he used to spark the investigation of President Donald Trump. Justice really has come full circle.
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