Washington - The US Justice Department on Thursday released a
highly critical report of former FBI director James Comey's releasing
of memos detailing his conversations with US President Donald Trump.
Comey's firing by Trump and the memos - which said Trump demanded
loyalty from the then FBI director - were a central part of special
counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible obstruction of
justice by Trump.
Comey had provided a memo of a conversation he had with Trump to a
confidant and told the friend to share it with the media in hopes
that it would prompt the appointment of a special counsel.
"By not safeguarding sensitive information obtained during the course
of his FBI employment, and by using it to create public pressure for
official action, Comey set a dangerous example for the over 35,000
current FBI employees," the Justice Department Office of the
Inspector General said in the report.
The report stated, however, that the Justice Department declined to
prosecute Comey for releasing the memos.
Trump is likely to uses the findings to attack Comey, whom he has
criticized for his early handling of the Russia investigation.
Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017 and released the memos shortly
there after.
Comey defended himself in a series of tweets on Thursday, stating
that the report concluded that he did not release any classified
information, as his critics alleged.
He called on his critics to "ask yourselves why you still trust
people who gave you bad info for so long, including the president."