Today's talker: FBI and DOJ are too politicized, they must be stopped The FBI can restore its reputation by terminating everyone involved in the Hillary Clinton's use of private email server investigation.

USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption House Dems, GOP battle over IG's FBI report House Democrats and Republicans battled over the recently released Justice Department's IG report on the FBI and the 2016 election during a Capitol Hill hearing Tuesday. (June 19)

In his first public comments after making his report public, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz sustained that in his review of the federal investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, there was no "documentary evidence" that political bias affected the investigation.

Fire everyone involved in IG report

The report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz is disturbing. Americans expect the chief law enforcement agencies of the federal government — the DOJ and the FBI — to administer justice in an ethical, professional, objective, nonpartisan and above-board manner.

Horowitz investigated the government’s investigation of Hillary Clinton's email scandal. He found that FBI agents who “demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a gross lack of professionalism.” Their internal communications mixed their political opinions with their investigative duties, including “statements of hostility toward then-candidate Donald Trump and statements of support for then-candidate Clinton,” the focus of the investigation.

Text messages between two of the agents implied “a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s election prospects. This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice.” According to the IG, “the conduct by these employees cast a cloud over the FBI” and “sowed doubt (over) the FBI’s work on, and its handling of, the (Clinton) investigation.”

Counterpoint: Donald Trump is wrong. My client Peter Strzok is a patriot, not a 'sick loser.'

It gets worse. The IG also found that agents “widely ignored” the FBI’s policy against disclosure of nonpublic information. Additionally, the agents making these disclosures “received benefits from reporters, including tickets to sporting events, golfing outings, drinks and meals, and admittance to nonpublic social events.”

The disclosure of confidential law enforcement information in a criminal investigation can irreparably damage the reputations and livelihoods of innocent individuals. It can also unduly prejudice the due process rights of those targeted in a federal investigation and prosecution.

As the IG concluded, the damage done “goes to the heart of the FBI’s reputation for neutral fact-finding and political independence.” The only way the FBI can restore its reputation for professionalism and objectivity is to discipline and terminate everyone that was involved in this abuse. And those who broke federal law must be criminally prosecuted.

Without such actions, the politicized “professionals” in the FBI and the Justice Department will be emboldened to bend and break even more rules to further their personal agendas and careers. Justice demands that they play — and work — by the rules.

Hans von Spakovsky is a former Justice Department counsel and a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.

More: Donald Trump has not been 'exonerated' on Russia. Congress can make that clear this week.

What our readers are saying

I could not agree with Peter Strzok's lawyer less (Donald Trump is wrong. My client Peter Strzok is a patriot, not a 'sick loser'). You can't be an unbiased investigator when you have strong feelings about someone in the investigation. He should have recused himself from both the Clinton email investigation and the Trump investigation, and used his investigative skills, which appear to be considerable, in another area of need.

— Steven Bott

The FBI, just like any other organization, has good and bad people, both biased and unbiased people. But if they work for the FBI, they should be impartial, and their personal thoughts and feelings should never affect their work.

— Teresa Burch

Even from Strzok's lawyer, I'm left wondering whether what Strzok said is really what Trump would like us to believe. I got the impression not that Strzok was saying that we're going to frame Trump, but rather that based on their investigation, they've found enough criminal activity that "there's no way he gets elected." I'd like to ask Strzok face-to-face whether that was what he meant.

— Edward Martin

To all the folks who believe that Strzok unjustly did something to try to prevent Trump from becoming president, or was trying to make it look like our president did something wrong: Wake up, before it's too late. Trump is the one who is doing everything and anything to make you think otherwise.

If Strzok wanted to interfere with Trump's campaign, all he had to do was leak information confirming that the campaign was under investigation for suspicious contact with Russian personnel and agents. Get a grip! Stop letting Trump make you believe his lies!

— Jacqueline Blanks Scott

Related: FBI and Justice Department have gravely damaged credibility when we need them most

What others are saying

FBI Director Christopher Wray, USA TODAY: "While the Inspector General didn’t find any evidence of political bias or improper consideration impacting the investigation under review, all of us at the FBI take this report seriously, and we accept its findings and recommendations. We’ve already taken steps to address many of the concerns it raises. We’ll change what we need to change and improve what can be made better and stronger, and we’ll move forward with renewed focus and determination. Because that is the essence of the FBI — we learn from the past, we get better at what we need to do, and we continually strive to be the very best we can be."

Kris Kolesnik, The Hill: "You know the phrase that lawyers always know the answer before they ask the question? For lawyers, answers are critical. For politicians, answers are irrelevant. Only questions are relevant. Sometimes questions take the form of accusations. In the case of this IG report, the accusers’ suspicions were wildly off the mark. Yes, there were lapses in judgment by DOJ leaders, but the entire premise of the accusers’ political agenda has collapsed — there was no political bias that came to bear in the FBI Clinton probe. No deep state, no Democrats hiding in FBI cubicles, no secret societies. For the accusers: verdict, reckless."

Josh Campbell, CNN.com: "The careless judgment exercised by (FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter) Strzok has caused immeasurable damage to the reputation of the FBI, but the fact is it is nearly impossible that these two could have affected any investigation based on their own political leanings. The FBI is an organization built on redundancy, and a robust system of accountability up and down the chain of command ensures no employee's personal views can effectively impact their work. This is because evidence and investigative decisions in high-profile cases are handled by large groups, not in individual silos."

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