House Oversight Committee head Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., blistering condemnation of the FBI and Department of Justice's "numerous failures" in investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes on the heels of his staunch defense of the agency from slams by President Donald Trump and his allies.
In a statement, the South Carolina GOP lawmaker – who read the Office of the Inspector General's findings before it was released to the public Thursday, according to the legal news outlet Law and Crime – said the report confirms the FBI made "unprecedented" investigative decision and "deviated from traditional investigative procedures in favor of a much more permissive and voluntary approach."
"I am alarmed, angered, and deeply disappointed by the Inspector General's finding of numerous failures by DOJ and FBI in investigating potential Espionage Act violations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton," scolded Gowdy, a former prosecutor.
He also pounced on anti-Trump FBI agent Peter Strzok for "manifest bias" that cast a "pall" on the Clinton email probe. Strzok reportedly sent a text to FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair, that had the words "we'll stop it" in it, referring to a Donald Trump presidency.
Gowdy's blast was in stark contrast to his unequivocable defense of the FBI late last month recently after Trump and his allies suggested an FBI informant who was in contact with members of the Trump campaign was a partisan spy.
"I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump," Gowdy said at the time – a position House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., later backed as "accurate."
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