Democratic senators are using the new Inspector General report to try and prove that there is no conspiracy in government to upend Donald Trump's presidency. While the IG, Michael Horowitz, found that former FBI Director James Comey had been "insubordinate" in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and highlighted new anti-Trump texts from two FBI agents, the FBI had not acted with bias, he concluded.
That's that, according to some Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) interpreted the report to conclude that the Mueller investigation was not influenced by political favors or returns in the FBI.
“I hope this will put to rest suggestions that there is some deep state conspiracy at the FBI or Justice Department and we can move forward with respecting the professionals who work in federal law enforcement," he said.
Coons, however, has not read the full report yet, telling reporters he plans to read it over the weekend.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said more of the same in his own statement, criticizing Trump for suggesting there's a witch hunt against him.
This report makes clear that FBI Director Comey and FBI personnel failed to follow the rules, and in doing so, hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign and helped Donald Trump’s. In a frenzy of tweets since taking office, the President has claimed a vast conspiracy in his own government against his campaign and Administration, but this report found no evidence that political bias affected the FBI’s investigations.The President and his loyalists in Congress will continue to try to impugn and impede Special Counsel Mueller’s separate investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with the Russian government, but this report makes clear just how important it is for the Special Counsel's investigation to proceed wherever the facts and the law take it—consistent with Department of Justice policies and free from politics or political inference.
Yet, as Guy pointed out, the report shows it wasn't only Strzok and Page who were expressing their anti-Trump political opinions.
It wasn't just Strzok & Page.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 14, 2018
IG turned up personal messages espousing partisan views (anti-Trump / defensive of Hillary) from *FIVE* different FBI officials connected to the case -- bringing "discredit to themselves" & "sow[ing] doubt" about the probe, according to the report: pic.twitter.com/yLenafiAIE
Comey, in his own response, says the IG report seems fair, but he disagrees with parts of it.
I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some. People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no Director faces it again. Thanks to IG’s people for hard work.
— James Comey (@Comey) June 14, 2018