2016 Postmortem

POLITICS | Thu Jan 12, 2017 | 1:59pm EST

DOJ investigating FBI decisions in Clinton email probe

By Julia Edwards Ainsley | WASHINGTON

A U.S. government watchdog said on Thursday it would examine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation followed proper procedures in its probe of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

The inspector general’s announcement comes amid outcry from Democrats who say Clinton’s loss to President-elect Donald Trump was in part due to Comey's bringing Clinton's emails back into the public spotlight less than two weeks before the 2016 election.

The Justice Department's Office of Inspector General said its probe would focus in part on decisions leading up to public communications by FBI Director James Comey regarding the Clinton investigation, and whether underlying investigative decisions may have been based on "improper considerations."

Although the FBI ultimately decided not to refer Clinton’s case for prosecution, Comey aroused suspicion that may have diminished trust in Clinton among voters.

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