FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus099136

Congressional Democrats say the report released by the Justice Department's Inspector General on the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton emails shows that the probe led by then FBI-Director James Comey benefited Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

In a stinging rebuke, the Justice Department watchdog declared Thursday that former FBI Director James Comey was "insubordinate" in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation in the explosive final months of the 2016 presidential campaign. But it also found there was no evidence that Comey's or the department's final conclusions were motivated by political bias toward either candidate.

Democrats said that while it was "not by design" the Comey's mistakes "unquestionably had the effect of helping the Trump campaign.

They also said that the report, by the Department of Justice's inspector general, should not be used as a way to undermine the special counsel's investigation or the Russia probe.

President Donald Trump and his supporters had looked to the much-anticipated report to provide a fresh line of attack against Comey and the FBI as Trump claims that a politically tainted bureau tried to undermine his campaign and - through the later Russia investigation - his presidency.

Clinton and her supporters, on the other hand, have long complained that she was the one whose election chances were torpedoed by Comey's investigation announcements about her email practices, in the summer and then shortly before the election.

Washington - 14 June 2018

++SOTS SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++

1. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader:

"Several things are crystal clear. First and foremost, anyone who is hoping to use this report to undermine the Mueller probe or prove the existence of a deep state conspiracy against President Trump will be sorely disappointed. Those of us who are interested in the truth,  however, are pleased to know that the inspector general wrote time and time again that when it came to the Clinton email investigation quote no evidence that the conclusions by Department prosecutors were affected by bias or improper consideration."

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader:

"Did Director Comey, the FBI and DOJ handle the public aspects of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email correctly? Of course not. We Democrats said that then. The inspector general makes it clear now. But Director Comey's mishandling of the publicity around the Clinton email campaign all accrued to the benefit of then candidate Trump, not the other way around."

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rep.  Adam Schiff, (D) California:

"Director Comey and others made serious errors of judgment. And while these serious errors of judgment were not driven by political considerations they were nevertheless serious mistakes. Those mistakes unquestionably had the effect of helping the Trump campaign. Now that was not by design, but that was the effect."