CNN legal analyst Laura Coates called Thursday's release of a Justice Department inspector general's report detailing James Comey's mishandling of confidential documents "poetic justice" for his management of the Hilary Clinton email investigation.

"It’s kind of ironic, especially with the Clinton press conference, what did he do?" Coates said. "He essentially tarred and feathered her in the public square by being extremely reckless. And then they say, we're not going to actually prosecute this person. It’s almost like poetic justice at play here for James Comey."

JAMES COMEY IS A 'MEATHEAD' AND 'POLITICAL HACK' WHO DAMAGED THE FBI, SAYS SEN. JOHN KENNEDY

Coates also said Comey shouldn't act smug about the DOJ's decision to not prosecute him and should appreciate how "damning" the IG report was to his reputation.

"I wouldn’t be quite as smug as he is," Coates said earlier in the segment. "There still was a very damning report by the IG that said, 'look, you had an obligation to relinquish any files you had.'

"They actually had somebody come over... to come to his home and say 'anything you got you want to hand over to us?' He didn’t hand it over. He handed it to a Columbia Law professor because he wanted a specific outcome."

"[Comey] didn’t hand over, knowingly, anything that was classified but he still did violate the policy in a way that FBI officials should not do -- which is, you don’t take information that you have gained through the course of your employment," she added.

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"That’s the big criticism that still stands, which is why his Twitter account is a little bit too dismissive of what he was actually accused of doing."