Pre-Election Actions of FBI, Comey, DOJ Under Review

Hillary Clinton complained just days after the election that FBI Director James Comey's 11th-hour letters to Congress about her email scandal just before the election helped bring about her defeat—and now the independent entity tasked with policing the Department of Justice is taking a formal look at those grievances. Michael Horowitz, the DOJ's Inspector General, announced Thursday that his team is opening an official review into the actions of both Comey's FBI and the DOJ in the days leading up to Nov. 8, reports ABC News, and whether said actions were justifiable under DOJ guidelines.

The inquiry will also take a closer look at Comey's July 2016 news conference in which he first indicated the FBI wasn't going to press charges in the Clinton case, though he did label Clinton and her staff "extremely careless," the AP notes. Clinton advocates say the release of the info without even knowing if it was accurate put the final nail in the coffin for Clinton's campaign. Politico notes the review will also cover non-email Clinton matters that the FBI was involved in before the election. Horowitz says the review was prompted by "numerous" calls for an investigation from congressional oversight committees, as well as from various groups and the general public, per ABC. (More Justice Department stories.)