The report released Thursday by the Justice Department inspector general on events leading up to the 2016 presidential election distributes blame across many quarters for improper conduct by the department and the FBI. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, found much to criticize in the actions of both the most senior officials – notably then-FBI Director James Comey and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch – as well as line investigators working the criminal probe of Hillary Clinton. Horowitz blasted Comey for departing “clearly and dramatically” from FBI and department norms in Comey’s public announcements concerning the Clinton email probe. While Horowitz, importantly, found that Comey’s improprieties were not the result of political bias, he nevertheless concluded that “the decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the Department as fair administrators of justice.”