DOJ to release report on Clinton probe next week

The Justice Department’s inspector general will release an internal report next week detailing broad allegations of misconduct by FBI and Justice Department officials in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election. 

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a letter on Thursday that his office is planning to release the highly anticipated report on June 14.

Horowitz also said he will testify before the Judiciary Committee on June 18. The House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees are expected to hold a joint hearing on the report the next day.

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The inspector general’s investigation has so far focused on former FBI Director James Comey’s various statements and letters regarding the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of State, as well as the unauthorized disclosure of nonpublic information by Justice Department employees. 

ABC News reported on Thursday that the report is expected to fault Comey, accusing him of defying authority at times during his tenure as the nation’s top FBI official. It’s also expected to criticize former Attorney General Loretta Lynch for her handling of the Clinton email investigation.

The inspector general’s report has been more than a year in the making. The Justice Department launched the investigation into the matter in January 2017, roughly a week before President Trump took office.

Trump questioned on Tuesday why the report was “taking so long” to release, and raised questions about whether internal investigators were seeking to make the report’s findings “weaker.”

“What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey,” Trump tweeted. “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!”

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, citing the former FBI director’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. He later acknowledged that the bureau’s probe into potential collusion between his campaign and Russia also factored into his decision.