The Justice Department’s inspector general report released this week disputed President Trump’s claim that the FBI’s Russia investigation was launched out of bias by top FBI officials but did find more evidence of anti-Clinton bias among agents.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report criticized the FBI’s handling of surveillance applications for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page but found that the investigation was justified and that the investigation was not launched out of bias against Trump. The report also said that former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who exchanged texts criticizing Trump, were not in a position to authorize an investigation into a presidential campaign.
While Trump has claimed that the texts show that the investigation was a “hoax” from the start, Horowitz did find similar anti-Clinton texts among FBI agents “which reflect their support for Trump in the 2016 elections.”
“If you hear talk of a special prosecutor … I will volunteer to work [on] the Clinton Foundation,” one FBI agent wrote to a colleague after the 2016 election. He added that he was “so elated with the election” that it was like “watching a Superbowl comeback.”
“Shit just got real,” he wrote. “I saw a lot of scared MFers on … [my way to work] this morning. Start looking for new jobs fellas. Haha.”
The agent told investigators that he “fully expected Hillary Clinton to walk away with the election but, as the returns [came] in … it was just energizing to me to see … [because] I didn’t want a criminal to be in the White House.”
Horowitz found more anti-Clinton bias:
Horowitz authored an earlier report that criticized Page and Strzok but also found deep anti-Clinton bias at the FBI.
Then-FBI Director James Comey told then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch that it had “become clear to him … that there is a cadre of senior people in New York who have a deep and visceral hatred of Secretary Clinton,” Lynch told investigators.
“He said it is, it is deep ... He said it was surprising to him or stunning to him,” she said. She added that “it was hard to manage because these were agents that were very, very senior, or had even had timed out and were staying on, and therefore did not really feel under pressure from headquarters or anything to that effect.”
Comey confirmed that he was worried about “people in New York… trying to take action that will generate noise that will have an impact on the election.”
An FBI agent told The Guardian ahead of the election that Hillary was “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.”
Giuliani had inside info:
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani hinted about a “surprise” to Fox News just before the FBI reopened the Clinton email probe just two weeks before the election.
“I think he’s got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises,” he said.
Giuliani later denied that he heard about the emails from FBI agents.
Comey announced two days before the election that the new materials found did not affect the Clinton probe.
