President Trump on Tuesday slammed the “numerous delays” in the Justice Department inspector general’s probe of the Hillary Clinton email case, questioning why the final report has not yet been released and whether it’s being watered down.
“What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency,” Trump tweeted.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office for more than a year has been reviewing the FBI’s handling of the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, but the release of the final report keeps getting pushed back. The release was originally anticipated in May. But last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee was forced to reschedule a hearing with Horowitz slated for Tuesday. The committee pushed that hearing to the following week, June 11, as committee members did not yet have a report to review, according to a congressional source.
A draft version of the report, however, was submitted to the DOJ and FBI in mid-May so officials could identify any information that should be protected from disclosure.
A source explained that the delay in the release could be tied to that process.
Horowitz’s report is highly anticipated. He has looked at a variety of allegations, including whether it was improper for former FBI Director James Comey to make a public announcement about not recommending prosecution over the Clinton email arrangement.
It has been reported that the IG review also is expected to hit FBI leaders for moving too slowly to review a batch of Clinton emails discovered toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Horowitz’s review has already put former top FBI official Andrew McCabe in legal jeopardy. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog sent a criminal referral for McCabe in April to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington in response to Horowitz’s finding that McCabe leaked information to the press and later lied about it to Comey and federal investigators, prompting Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire him in March.
The Washington Post reported that Comey has since been questioned by the U.S. attorney’s office as part of a McCabe investigation.
In November, Horowitz said his team had interviewed dozens of people and reviewed thousands of records in the course of the investigation.
Fox News’ Alex Pappas contributed to this report.