Republicans demand names of unidentified FBI employees in IG report

Republican lawmakers are asking the Justice Department's internal watchdog to hand over the names of unidentified FBI agents and employees mentioned in its report on how the FBI investigated Hillary Clinton's private email server.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and seven other Republicans wrote a letter asking Inspector General Michael Horowitz whether the FBI employees in question should be unmasked "in the interest of justice and transparency."

"As representatives of the American people, Congress deserves to know exactly who contributed to the abuse of power at the Department of Justice and FBI," the lawmakers wrote. "These individuals need to be held accountable and only transparency will ensure that action."

The Justice Department's inspector general last week released its long-anticipated report that detailed the missteps taken by the FBI and Justice Department during its investigation into Clinton. The report revealed messages exchanged by two FBI officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who were engaged in an extramarital affair and found to have made derogatory comments about President Trump.

It also detailed other text messages and instant messages exchanged by unnamed FBI officials that "included statements of hostility toward" Trump.

One FBI lawyer assigned to the Justice Department's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election was found to have sent another attorney at the bureau a message stating, "viva le resistance," after Trump was elected. The unidentified lawyer told the inspector general when asked about the message it was just "commentary" between two people "in a personal friendly capacity where she is just making a joke, and I'm responding."

"We found that the conduct of these five FBI employees brought discredit to themselves, sowed doubt about the FBI's handling of the midyear investigation, and impacted the reputation of the FBI," the report said.

The inspector general said that though the conduct from the FBI officials "cast a cloud over" the bureau's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server, there was no evidence that connected the political views expressed in the messages to the decisions related to the probe.

Biggs and his fellow Republican lawmakers said "there are many serious findings regarding actions of FBI agents who were not directly identified in your report."

In addition to Biggs, GOP Reps. Dave Brat of Virginia, Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Jody Hice of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina signed the letter to Horowitz.