Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley on Tuesday asked the Justice Department watchdog to hand over a report saying a senior FBI official lied about illegally accepting sports tickets from a journalist.
In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican, requested the report be turned over by Friday.
“According to the investigative summary, the official, who has since retired from the FBI, lacked candor in several respects when questioned by your office about his actions,” Mr. Grassley wrote.
On Tuesday, Mr. Horowitz released an executive summary saying the unnamed senior official will not be prosecuted for accepting free tickets from a television reporter who covered the Justice Department and FBI.
The official also misled investigators by saying he had paid for the tickets, when they actually were provided for free, violating federal regulations.
Despite the violation, the senior FBI official will not be prosecuted, a decision that has drawn fire from conservatives who have accused the bureau of a double standard.
Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, tweeted that the decision not to prosecute was “total hypocrisy,” noting that two of President Trump’s supporters, former White House national security adviser Micheal Flynn and Trump campaign figure George Papadopoulos, were prosecuted for lying to the FBI.
The investigation into the senior FBI official emerged from the Inspector General report this summer on the bureau’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, which documented some interactions between FBI officials and journalists.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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