Comey Cited as ‘Insubordinate,’ but Report Finds No Bias in FBI Decision to Clear Clinton

Former FBI director James B. Comey was “insubordinate” in his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, a critical Justice Department report concluded on June 14.  But the report, by the department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, does not challenge the decision not to prosecute Clinton. Nor does it conclude that political bias at the FBI influenced that decision, the officials said. “We found no evidence that the conclusions by department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations,” the report said. “Rather, we concluded that they were based on the prosecutor’s assessment of facts, the law, and past department practice.” The report has been highly anticipated in Washington, not least by President Trump, who has argued that a secret coterie of FBI agents rigged the investigation to help Mrs. Clinton win the presidency. The findings cite no evidence to support that theory. Nevertheless, the report paints an unflattering picture of one of the most tumultuous periods in the 110-year history of the FBI, when agents investigated Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server to store classified information and the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.