Trump claims FBI 'plotting' despite report

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump disputed Justice Department findings former FBI director James Comey's handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe was not politically motivated, declaring there was "total bias" at the FBI and the "top people" at the agency were "plotting against my election."

The department's inspector general report, while critical of the FBI and Comey personally, did not find evidence political bias tainted the investigation of Clinton's email practices in the months and days leading up to Trump's election.

But Friday, after tweeting he did a "great service" to the nation by firing Comey, Trump marched out to the White House North Lawn to talk with "Fox & Friends" for more than half an hour, claiming the report "totally" exonerated him, then pointing to accomplishments he said he's achieved and complaining about not getting proper credit.

Then he turned to other reporters and went over the same list for another 20 minutes.

On the inspector general report finding no political bias in the FBI's final conclusions, he said, "The end result was wrong. There was total bias."

Trump's comments followed the IG's 500-page report contending Comey was "insubordinate" in his handling of the Clinton investigation because he broke agency protocol. The report also rebuked FBI officials for exchanging anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 campaign.

But it said, "We found no evidence that the conclusions by the prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations; rather, we determined that they were based on the prosecutors' assessment of the facts, the law and past department practice."

Trump's supporters have argued the findings are proof of political bias at the FBI's highest levels tainting the Russia investigation, first led by the FBI and now by special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller's probe includes a look into whether Trump himself tried to obstruct justice by firing Comey.

Trump said Friday, as he has before, the Mueller probe, too, "has been totally discredited."

"The IG Report is a total disaster for Comey, his minions and sadly, the FBI," Trump tweeted earlier. "Comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI. I did a great service to the people in firing him. Good Instincts."

Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told "Fox & Friends" the report casts doubt on whether Trump will ever agree to an interview with Mueller's team because "why would he get interviewed by a corrupt investigation?"

Thursday's report documents in painstaking detail one of the most consequential investigations in modern FBI history and reveals how the bureau, which for decades has endeavored to stand apart from politics, came to be entangled in the 2016 presidential election. It underscores efforts by FBI and Justice Department leaders to juggle developments in the Clinton investigation -- she had used private email for government business while secretary of state -- with a separate probe then unknown to the American public into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Clinton supporters believe Comey's actions, far from hurting Trump, may well have torpedoed her chance of becoming president.

The IG found the FBI director erred when he announced in July 2016 Clinton had been "extremely careless" with classified material but would not be charged with any crime, and again months later when Comey told Congress just days before the election the investigation into Clinton's emails had been reopened. Comey concealed from the Justice Department his plans to make a public announcement until the morning he did so, even though such statements are normally handled by the Justice Department, if at all, the report says.

"We found that it was extraordinary and insubordinate for Comey to do so, and we found none of his reasons to be a persuasive basis for deviating from well-established Department policies in a way intentionally designed to avoid supervision by department leadership over his actions," the report states.