Washington, Jun 14 (EFE).– FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday that the report released by the Department of Justice’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, does not impugn “the integrity of our workforce as a whole, or the FBI as an institution,” although it identified “errors of judgment” on the part of some agents.
“I take this report very seriously, and we accept its findings and recommendations,” Wray said at a press conference at FBI headquarters in Washington. “The report does identify errors of judgment, violations of or disregard for policy, and decisions that, at the very least, in hindsight, were not the best choices.”
Wray went on to say that he was making “all employees fully aware of our new policy on contacts with the news media … and making clear that we will not tolerate non-compliance.”
“There are some sobering lessons in (the report) and we’re going to learn those lessons and we’re going to act on those lessons, and that’s the way the FBI’s always handled these things in the past and that’s what made the FBI stronger over the last 110 years,” he said.
Former FBI Director James Comey – whom Wray succeeded in May 2017 after Comey was fired by President Donald Trump – failed to follow regular procedures in his investigation of candidate Hillary Clinton for her e-mail use, according to the report by the DOJ’s watchdog division released on Thursday.
The document says that Comey did not act for partisan ends against the Democratic presidential candidate, although it adds that the then-FBI chief committed a “serious error of judgment” by deciding to inform Congress of the investigation and not his superiors in the DOJ.
Horowitz also said in the 500-page report, however, that Comey did not show any political bias or try to influence the election, and he did not contest Comey’s decision not to prosecute Clinton in the e-mail matter.
Just 10 days before the November 2016 presidential vote, Comey informed Congress that he was reopening his investigation into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server for her work as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama.
For the past 18 months, the inspector general has been examining the matter to determine if FBI policies and procedures were properly and coherently followed after on July 5, 2016, Comey said that he would not file charges against Clinton but on Oct. 28 of that year informed Congress that he was reopening the investigation.