Trump's backwards interpretation of the IG report

Trump claims the inspector general's report about the FBI vindicates him. That's completely absurd.

President Trump in the White House
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Late last week, the Justice Department's inspector general released a report examining the FBI's investigation of Hillary Clinton's email server during the 2016 presidential campaign. President Trump claims the report vindicates the theory, frequently touted both by him and his supporters, that he was the victim of a Deep State conspiracy concocted by FBI agents who gave Clinton a pass for her criminal activity while investigating non-existent collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

"The IG Report is a total disaster for Comey, his minions and sadly, the FBI," President Trump tweeted on Friday. Trump's reaction is not so much wrong as misleading. The report is incredibly damning of the investigation into Clinton's email server, but not because it was wrong not to charge her, but because former FBI Director James Comey kept violating department norms to intervene in a presidential election.

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Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux is a professor of political science at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., with a focus on the Supreme Court and constitutional law. He is a frequent contributor to the American Prospect and blogs for Lawyers, Guns and Money.