Why did then-FBI Director James Comey feel he needed to take the Clinton email matter into his own hands and cut out his own bosses, the leaders of the Justice Department?
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The Washington Post has told the story before, and now the [Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz report on the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server] confirms it: In March 2016, the FBI got ahold of "highly classified information," according to the report, that "included allegations of partisan bias" or attempts by [then-Attorney General Loretta] Lynch to impede the Clinton email probe.
The FBI looked into the discovery and could not corroborate it, plus Comey told investigators he knew from the first moment that the discovery wasn't true. According to the Post, the material purported to be a Russian intelligence document that discussed an email that was not included.
In that purported email, Lynch supposedly told a Clinton campaign staffer not to worry about the investigation because she would take care of everything.
It also said, according to the new IG report, that Comey was deliberately drawing out the Clinton email investigation to help Republicans. Comey told investigators that he knew it wasn't true and that he didn't believe that Lynch had offered the assurance to the Clinton campaign that the questionable document described.
However, even though Comey never believed the information, it still helped prompt him to decide to box out Lynch and then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, the report says:
"Comey said that he became concerned that the information about Lynch would taint the public's perception of the [Clinton] investigation if it leaked, particularly after DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 began releasing hacked emails in mid-June 2016."
Meaning what? Not only did the Russians influence the conduct of American officials with a questionable document — the use of forgeries is a long-standing aspect of active measures — but also the American officials involved here knew the material almost certainly wasn't real. Even so, it still affected Comey's choices, and to the degree it was intended to help disrupt the election, it worked.