IG Report Says Comey Leaked and Violated DOJ Regulations; DOJ Declines to Prosecute

I don't know how the DOJ plans to go to the public seeking convictions of non-Deep-State actors, telling juries that these are serious crimes and stuff, while meanwhile deeming them not so serious whenever one of their own breaks the law.

A scathing inspector general report released Thursday said that fired FBI Director James Comey violated bureau policies by drafting, leaking and retaining memos documenting private discussions with President Trump.

The Justice Department's official watchdog concluded that the memos Comey kept were in fact "official FBI records," and said Comey set a "dangerous example" with his actions.

"By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, 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," the report stated.

While the findings of the probe were forwarded to the DOJ, the department has declined prosecution, as Fox News reported earlier this month...

The 83-page document outlined a series of violations, including that he broke FBI policies and the bureau's employment agreement "by providing one of the unclassified memos that contained official FBI information, including sensitive investigative information, to his friend with instructions for the friend to share the contents of the memo with a reporter."

Further, the IG determined that Comey kept copies of four memos (out of the total seven he drafted) in a personal safe at home after his removal as director -- and in doing so "violated FBI policies and his FBI Employment Agreement by failing to notify the FBI that he had retained them." The IG said Comey again violated the rules "by providing copies ... of the four memos he had kept in his home to his three private attorneys without FBI authorization," and by failing to alert the FBI once he learned one of the memos contained sections later deemed classified at the confidential level.

Comey's GOP critics slammed the former FBI boss in the wake of the report. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, called his actions "disgraceful."

The report repeatedly and pointedly alleged that Comey wrongly violated policies for personal reasons -- in this case, in order to spur a special counsel probe.

The report is here.

posted by Ace of Spades at 12:01 PM

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