Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray are testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday regarding the Justice Department Inspector General’s recent report on the handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation and other issues related to the 2016 election. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Watch live in the player above.
The 500-page report provided an in-depth examination of the behaviors of various FBI officials, including whether they demonstrated political bias in their handling of matters, including the Clinton investigation. The report called out former FBI Director James Comey for being “insubordinate” and acting against Justice Department policy by making public statements regarding the Clinton investigation. Comey famously held a press conference where he announced his recommendation not to bring charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State. He then sent a letter to Congress days before the 2016 election saying that the investigation was being reopened.
The report also confirmed that Comey himself had used a personal email account to conduct government business, but did not confirm that he sent or received classified information with the account.
While the IG report noted that Comey did not act appropriately, it did not accuse him of any crimes or acting out of political bias.
The report also described messages sent between employees involved in the Clinton investigation including Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, that showed blatant negative sentiment towards then-candidate Donald Trump and a favoring of Clinton. While the report acknowledged that these employees had political bias, it only expressed concern that Strzok may have been willing to act on that bias in his official capacity. When these findings were made, Strzok was in a leadership position of investigation of possible Trump campaign ties to Russian interference with the 2016 election, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller subsequently removed Strzok from the investigation.
[Image via House Judiciary Committee screengrab]
