WASHINGTON (AP) – FBI Director James Comey, already under fierce public scrutiny for his handling of the election-year probe of Hillary Clinton, faces a new internal investigation into whether he and the Justice Department followed established protocol in the email server case.
The wide-ranging investigation from the Justice Department’s inspector general will focus in part on Comey’s decision to announce the findings of the FBI’s probe and on two letters he sent to Congress in the days before the election that thrust the matter back to the forefront.
It’s not clear how long the review will take, but there’s no question the investigation will revisit intensely debated decisions the FBI made during the investigation and revive questions of whether the bureau took actions that might have influenced the outcome.
The inspector general’s probe also is likely to bring unwanted new attention to Comey, whom some Democrats have partially blamed for Clinton’s loss to Trump, at a time when the FBI has been trying to reassert its reputation as an independent and apolitical law enforcement agency.
Comey said he was pleased about the review, which comes in response to requests from members of Congress and the public, and added that the FBI would cooperate fully with the inspector general.