The FBI Failed to Examine Evidence in Clinton Email Investigation, According to Newly Declassified Report

by Susan Katz Keating

The FBI failed to fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and her mishandling of highly classified information while serving as Secretary of State, according to a newly declassified government report. The report by the Justice Department’s Inspector General was released on Monday by Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  

“This document shows an extreme lack of effort and due diligence” on the part of then-director James Comey’s FBI, Grassley said in a statement. “Under Comey’s leadership, the FBI left key pieces of evidence on the cutting room floor.” 

Screenshot from the Clinton Annex

The document, known as the “Clinton Annex,” is part of a previously classified appendix to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2018 report on the politicized conduct of the FBI’s Midyear Exam investigation into Clinton’s mishandling of classified information by using a private server while she was secretary of state. The Annex is filled with redactions, but shows a pattern of claims and evidence that the FBI ignored. 

Throughout the document, the Inspector General finds that evidence sat untouched, and national security risks were brushed aside. 

Comey’s bureau “neglected to examine critical thumb drives containing sensitive government data – including communications tied to President Obama and the State Department,” Grassley noted. 

The “Clinton Annex” reveals that FBI officials – including Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Agent Peter Strzok – chose not to conduct additional targeted searches. A draft FBI memo had recommended reviewing the drives, yet that step was never taken. The OIG found this failure left serious national security risks unaddressed and amounted to an incomplete investigation. 

Comey exonerated Clinton on live television on July 5, 2016, and recommended the DOJ take no legal action against her. Watchdogs in the Senate later found that Comey had drafted Clinton’s exoneration statement before he interviewed her. Just weeks later, on July 31, Comey’s FBI launched the now-discredited Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

On that day, Strzok texted Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer with whom he was having an affair. Strzok wrote: “And damn this feels momentous. Because this matters. The other one did, too, but that was to ensure we didn’t F something up. This matters because this MATTERS. So super glad to be on this voyage with you.”

The “Clinton Annex” also contains material on efforts to influence an investigation, and provide information that would help the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

Officials on Capitol Hill tell Soldier of Fortune they expect that more information will emerge in connection with the Clinton Annex.

“More will be unmasked,” one staff member said.

Neither Clinton nor Comey could immediately be reached for comment.

Read the Clinton Annex here.

Susan Katz Keating is the publisher and editor in chief at Soldier of Fortune.