Former FBI Director James Comey will avoid prosecution after illegally leaking personal memos in the hopes of instigating the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 US election, as reported yesterday by The Hill‘s John Solomon and confirmed today by Fox News.
According to Solomon, DOJ Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz referred Comey for possible prosecution under laws governing the handling of classified information, however Attorney General William Barr has declined to prosecute – as the DOJ does not believe they have enough evidence of Comey’s intent to violate the law.
“Everyone at the DOJ involved in the decision said it wasn’t a close call,” an official told Fox News. “They all thought this could not be prosecuted.”
That said, it’s important to note that this decision was the result of a ‘carve-out’ investigation separate of the IG probe on FISA abuse.
The Conservative Treehouse lays out the situation:
This is NOT the Inspector General Michael Horowitz report on DOJ and FBI FISA abuse.
This is a carve-out.
…
From the outset it was reported and confirmed that U.S. Attorney John Huber was assigned to assist Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Huber’s job was to stand-by in case the IG carved out a particular concern, discovered during his investigation, that might involve criminal conduct.
Earlier this week Matt Whitaker said: “John Huber is reviewing anything related to Comey’s memos and the like.”
Put the two data points together and what you realize is that during the OIG review of potential DOJ and FBI FISA abuse… IG Horowitz investigated the Comey Memo’s and then passed that specific issue along to John Huber for DOJ review.
The IG criminal referral for the James Comey memo leaking was a carve-out sent to U.S. Attorney John Huber.
…
This is not the inspector general report on DOJ and FBI FISA abuse. This is an IG report carved out of the larger investigation. –Conservative Treehouse
In short, we will first see an IG report just covering Comey, with a more comprehensive report to follow on FISA abuse.
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