The Office of Inspector General (OIG) released their report on the handling of classified material by James Comey. It did not put Comey in a good light. He was recommended for prosecution but the office of attorney general did not wish to prosecute.
The report showed incidences of wrongdoing. It showed that he mishandled documents. It also showed that he shared documents with individuals that were not allowed by the FBI to see the particular documents.
Comey's mishandling of government documents
The famous missing memo. James Comey took the memos home that he created after meeting with Donald Trump.
Government documents are not allowed to leave the federal buildings without permission from the agency.
After he was fired, he emailed the memos to his attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. Some of these memos were classified. Classified memos are strictly forbidden to be shared without permission. Even the memos that are not classified are not forbidden from being shared with people outside the FBI which James Comey was the director.
These memos made it to the media. James Comey created the memos and nobody had possession of these memos except him. Interesting how they ended up in the hands of the media.
Special counsel investigation started after leaked memos
Comey admitted in his 2017 Senate hearing that he released the memos to Daniel Richman who was a Columbia University Law professor.
Richman was directed by Comey to release these memos to the media. The New York Times was the first publication to release a story about the leaked memos.
The story by the New York times leads to the creation of the special counsel after Comey was fired. Rod Rosenstein created the special counsel and the investigation lasted for almost two years.
The investigation was about Donald Trump and Russia collusion.
The memos not being released could have stopped the investigation before it started. James Comey was fired while the FBI was looking into Russia collusion. After he was fired, a special counsel was appointed to continue that investigation. This investigation led to millions of dollars wasted and the result was that there was no collusion between Donald Trump and Russia.
Reactions about the release of the OIG report
The first reaction came from Comey himself. He was asking for an apology from everyone that accused him of being a leaker and liar. The report proved he was a leaker when he instructed his friend to make sure the memos make it to the media.
Jim Jordan who has been a proponent of the whole investigation into Russia collusion has called for an investigation into the origins of the whole investigation. He was quoted by CNN stating, "His actions were disgraceful and part of a wider effort within the Obama Justice Department to undermine President Trump."
“Comey failed to live up to this responsibility.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 29, 2019
By not safeguarding sensitive information... and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35k current FBI employees—and the many thousands more former FBI employees.”
Lindsey Graham, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been predicting this outcome.
He has also vowed to investigate the origins of the investigation. Washington Post quoted him saying this is a "stunning and unprecedented rebuke of a former Director of the FBI." He has been making the rounds on the talk shows stating that the reports that are to come out are going to be showing the real crimes that have been committed against this nation.
Donald Trump has been calling Comey a leaker and a liar since he was fired. This is proof for those claims. The report did show Comey as a leaker and liar. He was on Twitter reiterating his point once again. Donald Trump tweeted that "he should be ashamed of himself."
The disastrous IG Report on James Comey shows, in the strongest of terms, how unfairly I, and tens of millions of great people who support me, were treated. Our rights and liberties were illegally stripped away by this dishonest fool. We should be given our stolen time back?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019
Rod Rosenstein who worked in the Attorney General's office and led the Mueller investigation was critical of Comey.
He understood the importance of this investigation and the importance of the rule of the law. He was quoted by the Washington Post stating, "we should be most on guard when we believe that our own uncomfortable .. circumstances justify ignoring .. principles respected by our predecessors."
James Comey gave the FBI a black eye. He led one of the most respected law enforcement agencies into a laughingstock. The FBI is in charge of investigating crimes against the United States not creating them.
By all rights, James Comey should have been prosecuted. If this was not prosecuted by William Barr, what will be? William Barr must have something even bigger than leaking memos and make a mockery of a great institution. This is the first step to fulfilling the biggest campaign promise of all when Donald Trump declared that he was going to Washington to drain the swamp.
