The Justice Department’s inspector general said Thursday that former FBI Director James Comey violated FBI policies in his handling of memos about his private conversations with President Trump but did not violate any laws, The Associated Press reports.
The inspector general report said that Comey violated FBI rules by giving an unclassified memo to a friend to share with a reporter and by failing to return his memos to the FBI after he was fired in May 2017.
“By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees — and the many thousands more former FBI employees — who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information,” the report said.
Report denies Trump’s claim that Comey leaked classified info:
The report found that none of the information shared by Comey was classified and the Justice Department declined to prosecute him.
Comey declared himself vindicated on Twitter.
"I don’t need a public apology from those who defamed me, but a quick message with a ‘sorry we lied about you’ would be nice,” he wrote. “And to all those who’ve spent two years talking about me ‘going to jail’ or being a ‘liar and a leaker’ — ask yourselves why you still trust people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president.”
Trump praises Barr for not prosecuting before complaining about non-prosecution:
Trump claimed on Twitter that the report was “disastrous” for Comey even as the former FBI Director took a victory lap on the social network.
“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?” Trump wrote.
Trump then praised Attorney General Bill Barr for not prosecuting Comey, before quoting a Fox News guest who complained that Barr did not prosecute Comey.
“The fact that James Comey was not prosecuted for the absolutely horrible things he did just shows how fair and reasonable Attorney General Bill Barr is,” Trump wrote. “So many people and experts that I have watched and read would have taken an entirely different course. Comey got Lucky!”
Minutes later, he quoted former CIA officer Bryan Dean Wright’s appearance on Fox & Friends: “In 2016 we had a Coup. We have to take Comey and others to task. Makes no sense not to prosecute him. Comey got a book deal. I fear for my Country. He tried to kneecap our duly elected president, and there are no consequences.”
