IG Calls Lack Of Communication Between Comey And Lynch ‘Troubling’

attends The Center For Reproductive Rights Hosts 25th Anniversary Celebration on October 24, 2017 in New York City.
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Loretta Lynch speaks at The Center For Reproductive Rights Hosts 25th Anniversary Celebration on October 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for The Center... NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 24: Loretta Lynch speaks at The Center For Reproductive Rights Hosts 25th Anniversary Celebration on October 24, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for The Center For Reproductive Rights) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The Justice Department inspector general found a “troubling” lack of “substantive communication” between former FBI director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch ahead of Comey’s decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails just before the 2016 election, according to Bloomberg.

In an excerpt of the highly anticipated DOJ inspector general, published by Bloomberg, that looks at the FBI’s activity ahead of the 2016 election, DOJ IG Micheal Horowitz said he found the lack of communication between the two parties to be “extraordinary.”

“We found it extraordinary that, in advance of two such consequential decisions, the FBI director decided that the best course of conduct was to not speak directly and substantively with the attorney general about how best to navigate those decisions,” Horowitz said.

Comey announced he had closed the Clinton probe in July 2016 and then reopened it in October of that year, a move Democrats claim cost them the election.

Lynch did not recuse herself from the Clinton email probe, but told Comey at the time that she would agree with his findings, as Bloomberg notes. The former attorney general was heavily criticized — especially by President Donald Trump — for privately meeting with former President Bill Clinton on her plane in June 2016. The two have maintained that the investigation was not discussed.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: