Aug. 5 (UPI) — The Justice Department’s inspector general announced Thursday it didn’t find evidence the FBI provided Rudy Giuliani with non-public information about an investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz released the findings of the four-year-long probe, which also looked into leaks of sensitive information from the FBI to members of the media.
The report said there were numerous contacts between dozens of FBI employees and members of the media who reported on non-public information during the 2016 election but it was unclear if those contacts involved the sharing of information.
Giuliani, meanwhile, told the inspector general he didn’t receive any information about the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s email use, despite him hinting he heard rumors that former FBI Director James Comey intended to reopen the investigation in the waning days of the election. Four FBI employees accused of being on contact with Giuliani — former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer — at the time also denied the allegations.
“Accordingly, the purported investigative leads provided by the FBI on alleged FBI employee contacts with Giuliani were inaccurate,” the report said.
The FBI closed its initial investigation into Clinton’s storage of government emails on a personal computer server July 5, 2016, saying it was not recommending criminal charges against the former diplomat and first lady. But Comey publicly announced a further review of her email server less than two weeks before the presidential election, which pitted Clinton against Trump.
Though Comey said two days before Election Day that Clinton wouldn’t face legal charges in the wake of the renewed review, critics said the public announcement in October ruined her chances of winning the election.
In January 2017, the Justice Department inspector general launched its review to determine whether the FBI violated its policy during those final months before the election, including Comey’s decision to publicly announced the new review of Clinton’s emails.
