Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Thursday will issue the highly anticipated findings of his examination of the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. He is expected to castigate the decision making by the former FBI director James Comey; his deputy, Andrew McCabe, and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. President Trump is laying the groundwork to attack Horowitz’s report. “What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey,” he tweeted this month. this month. “Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker!” Horowitz has begun a review of aspects of the Russia investigation. His findings could land in 2020 amid the presidential race, the New York Times reports. Interviews with friends, former colleagues and political leaders produced a portrait of Horowitz as a principled, savvy investigator. He has faced criticism over his most highly charged reports, including one on the “Fast and Furious” gun running scandal. He offered harsh assessments about one official, but critics expressed concern that the report inflated the official’s role.
His allies said that attacks were inevitable. Horowitz, 55, briefly overlapped with Comey as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, where U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White named him head of her office’s public corruption section. Later, he was chief of staff to the head of DOJ’s criminal division. He was named to his current job in 2012 by President Obama. Horowitz was a key behind-the-scenes player in the 2016 passage of a law intended to reinforce the power of inspectors general, working with colleagues to lobby all 72 government watchdogs at the time to sign a letter to lawmakers outlining their challenges.