Report chides FBI for handling of Foley case

January 23, 2007
Report chides FBI for handling of Foley case

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's inspector general admonished the FBI on Monday for its handling of the page scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, saying the bureau failed to follow up on suggestive e-mail between the Florida Republican and a former male page and gave inaccurate statements to the public about the case.

The report also criticized the bureau for public comments it made about the advocacy group
complaint.

Justice officials said at the time that the advocacy group had provided "heavily redacted"
e-mail and refused to provide information about the source of the e-mail, indicating that was the
reason the FBI did not pursue an investigation earlier.

"The OIG concluded that such statements were not accurate," the report found. "The e-mails were
not heavily redacted and the evidence showed that the FBI did not seek additional information from
CREW."