In and reassure the people who work at the cia . I am confident that the Central Intelligence agency will play a role for this administration. It has for every previous administration, as providing powerful intelligence. We have the president elect disparaging the Intelligence Community, questioning its conclusions and questioning its motivations. I have very, very high degree of confidence in our Intelligence Community. I would not have taken this job if i didnt believe the president elect would also be open to my input on this or any other matter. We begin with breaking news in washington. The Justice DepartmentInspector General launching an investigation into potential misconduct by the fbi in regards to how it handled Hillary Clintons email investigation ahead of the election. A groundbreaking move that will likely send shock waves beyond next weeks inauguration. To be clear, though, this will not affect the fbis decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton. Her former National Spokesman says the investigation could set some wrongs right. The Inspector Generals are independent. Their job is to follow the facts wherever they lead to oversight and due diligence. So, this is the one person that is capable of holding the likes of jim comey, who has a tenyear term, and is otherwise fail fairly independent, hes the one person who has ability to hold him to account and get him to answer questions. This will give people have the opportunity to have questions answered and at the end of the day restore confidence and right now the tarnished reputation of the fbi. The white house, meanwhile, is refusing to take a position on the probe. I can tell you that the white house was not involved in that decision. And anything the Inspector General chooses to investigate is something that he will do he or she will do, based on their own view of the situation, based on their own knowledge of the facts. Hopefully they will follow whatever follow the evidence where it leads. If they find any evidence. Just two days ago fbi director james comey was subject to a testy back and forth on capitol hill when testifying about russian hacking during the election. You didnt say one way or another whether even theres an investigation under way. Correct. I dont especially in a public forum, we never confirm or deny a pending investigation. The irony im not saying the irony of you making that statement here, i cannot avoid. Nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams is following the latest from our Washington News room. And kasie hunt is on capitol hill. Pete, lets start with you on this. Senator lee was just talking to our colleague craig melvin, and he called this relatively routine. Would you call this routine . No, i dont think so. I mean, its routine that the Inspector General can look into the performance of justice and fbi officials, but this is a very wideranging list of things that Michael Horowitz has set for himself to do. He says hes doing this because of calls from members of congress, from the from the public, from various organizations to look into how this was handled. Not the investigation and the prosecution, per se, but the way certain statements and announcements about it were made. So, these are the five things he says hell look at. The allegations that policies and procedures werent followed in how the fbi director made his announcement july 5th that said, were not going to prosecute her, but being critical about Hillary Clintons handling of emails. Allegations that an fbi Deputy Director should not have been involved in certain investigative matters. Allegations that the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs of justice improperly disclosed some nonpublic information. Frankly, i think those two points are among the least important of these. Allegations that department and fbi employees improperly discussed nonpublic information, ditto for that. And then the other big one. Allegations about the timing of the letters that the fbi director sent to congress. The one in november or october 30th saying, we foundational emails on Anthony Weiners laptop. We need to look at them. The subsequent letter november 1st saying, we looked, we dont find anything pertinent to the investigation. Michael horowitz, the Inspector General, says the use of twitter to publize the same. The questions he set for himself, were these decisions influenced by improper considerations, were they based on improper considerations . Its going to take him, obviously, some time to issue his report on that. Now, inspectors general can only make recommendations. Theyre independent of the department. They can merely say what they think the policies, the way things were handled were inconsistent with Justice Department practices and traditions and make recommendations, including whether people should be disciplined. The decisions about that would then be up to the new incoming attorney general, who it seems to be is going to be jeff sessions. The question is, if he does find allegations or substantiated allegations of misconduct f he finds there was improper announcements made before the election, and this goes to the trump administration, to wouldbe attorney general jeff sessions, does this in any way change the outcome of the election . I think that would be the question on many people who voted for Hillary Clintons mind . Thats decidedly what the Inspector General says hes not going to look at. Hes simply going to look at the motivations and the decisions and the practices and how these things were carried out. He says nothing about the affect on the election. Nothing, as you noted earlier at the beginning of your program, about the merits of any investigative or prosecution decisions to bring or not bring charges. Hes interested in how these announcements were made, whether things were improperly passed along to anybody, whether Justice Department officials leaked anything to anybody or not. Thats his focus. Kasie, youre on the hill today, obviously, covering the confirmation hearings, but you spent quite a bit of time on the campaign trail covering the Clinton Campaign. Do you have any word on how theyre reacting so far . We heard from brian fallon a moment ago. But do they feel this is vindication in some respect . Reporter well, brian fallon saying this is not surprising but absolutely necessary Going Forward. And he, like many clinton officials have in the wake of this, blamed jim comey for Hillary Clintons loss here. Thats really the context in which everyone who worked for secretary clinton. It seems from what weve learned in the wake of the election, the clintons themselves view this. Hillary clinton herself blamed her loss on jim comey at a party with donors in middecember she held for people who supported her. Bill clinton, her husband, was quoted in a bookstore as saying that jim comey cost his wife this election. So, thats the lens that they are looking at this through. We still have not yet heard word we have inquire ris out to her current spokesperson, nick merrill, who is still working for secretary clinton. Brian fallon now off the payroll. He was working for the campaign. Nick merrill has been a close, personal aide for quite some time. But i think that this is something that they, frankly, are going to focus quite a bit on but the reality at this point, they think, too little, too late. Kasie, Pete Williams, thank you for joining me. I should note that the House Oversight and government reform chairman Jason Chaffetz has tweeted. He says, i support the Inspector Generals review of what happened at the doj and fbi during the clinton investigation. Greta joins us from washington. First of all, welcome. I hope you find a good home here at nbc news. Its exciting to talk to you for the first time on our air, for me at least. Im thrilled to be here, katy. Fantastic. Now, with that out of the way, lets talk about whats going on in washington today. As if there wasnt already enough news with the confirmation hearings. We have this dropped on our laps. Tell me, in your opinion, how significant is this to have the ig now saying theyre going to go after potential misconduct within the fbi . I think its very significant for the fbi director because he doesnt want his legacy to be that the ig at the department of justice investigated him and he did something improper. Lets take a little look at this. First of all, james comey, wellrespected lawyer, prosecutor here in washington, d. C. , but the American People are about to see how the sausage is made. Its not particularly pretty. The clintons blame director comey for her loss, but they dont mention the fact that she had the server in the basement that started this and the emails were deleted. So, weve got that. A lot of finger pointing here. But then you look at james comey is that he had no sort of record, like this has never happened before, so you cant go to a statue book to figure out how to do it but you do use a Little Common sense. He had that bizarre july press conference when he came out and said he wasnt going to recommend charges against secretary clinton or go to a grand jury. He used language saying she was extremely careless but didnt meet the standard and everyone scratched their head. But then what happened is about october 28th he sends a letter to congress, right before the election, and says that they may reopen or something to that effect 37 then a couple days later says, no. What in the world did he do that for . Now, that was really bizarre. And i think, if you look at it, it was after much voting had already begun. We have early voting. I dont have quite the i dont suspect that it really flipped the election one way or another because people had already been voting. But heres the issue. Heres where the sausage is made. Why did it take the fbi so long to do their job on something so important as an election . Why did it take them until last july and then up until the election to do their job . Thats where the sausage is made. Maybe they dont have the resources. If you want to fault anything, take a look at this because this theres nothing wrong with investigating clinton. Nothing wrong with investigating comey, but when you drag things like like that unnecessarily, i think thats the real problem here. I want to ask you about that. Were in a particularly divisive moment in our history, voters who didnt vote for donald trump and those who did vote for him, and a real political divide where you see the democrats digging their heels in saying theyre going to refuse to work with republicans and also donald trump driving that wedge. You have Jason Chaffetz just being pretty apolitical about this, but to have this drag on and have more questions raised, what does this do to the environment in washington . And is there hope Going Forward that theres going to be some way for these two sides to work together, to actually get something done . Unfortunately, this city people take sides. Dont necessarily look at problems and facts and try to come up with conclusions. I had jason chef fets on the other day and said, why bother do the investigation with Hillary Clinton . We not move on . We have government waste. He said he thought it was an important issue. So be it. Thats his prerogative. As for this in some ways i actually support this investigation. You know, if were going to investigate politicians, we better do it fairly and we better do it quickly. While i dont think the letter he sent on the 28th of october to capitol hill, that he was going to reopen it in any way swung the election against secretary clinton, having this hang over her all that time was very punitive to the process. We ought to have investigations that are fast and thorough. That does not absolve her of the fact she had the server in the basement. One problem in this city, everybodys got a piece of the blame. No doubt. What happens to james comey Going Forward . Nothing. Its horrible to always be investigated. This is terrible. This is not a good day for him. Hes not going to go to jail for him but could he lose his job . Probably not. I mean, if it turns out if theres some smoking gun and you find out that he writes a memo to his deputy, make sure we get clinton, lets do it this way, leak stuff, then hes finished, hes done. But thats not his reputation. He may not have handled this well. He had think of it this way, too. What if he hadnt made that statement in july and we find out later that he with held it . We would be jumping him for that. Theres a lot of damned if you do and damfed if you dont. One thing is clear if the investigation had gone quickly and thoroughly, we would have a lot less problems. It got dragged out and then the drama on the eve of the election. So, it has all its got all the ingredients for an incredible fight. And washington loves to fight. Loves to pick sides. You know, so the American People are going to see how the sausage is made and theyre not going to like it. It was a roller coast are of an election. I dont have to tell you that. Its shaping up to be a roller coaster of a tradition, roller coaster of inauguration and a roller coaster of the next four years. Greta, thank you so. You can catch greta every night at 6 00 p. M. On msnbc. Her show for the record with greta. Joining us now, matt miller, former spokesman for attorney general eric holder. Matt, youre pretty good to talk to about this. What do you think this investigation means . Does this say that the doj does not have confidence in the fbi . I think thats the question the Inspector General wants to get to the bottom of. Well see when the investigation finishes what conclusions he finds, but i think its going to be very hard for him to find anything but comey blatantly violated the rules that governed his conduct on repeated occasions. Going all the way back to the july 5th press conference. You know, he walked not just up to the line. He walked over the line in talking about the conduct of someone who the department was no longer going to be investigated, a clear violation of department rules. He talked about an investigation he had not yet received a formal closure from from prosecutors who he was supposed to be working for. That really set the tone for his conduct going to congress and talking about it and then finally that letter, 11 days out from the election, that i think really had a decisive impact. You can look at the way clintons poll numbers, you know, dropped in the days after that. And i think had he not sent that letter, wed be looking at Hillary Clinton getting ready to take the oath of office next week. To be fair, the Clinton Campaign said a lot of this or that or the other didnt happen and she would have been president. Obviously, both sides using this investigation to their advantage at different points during the campaign. No doubt the momentum shifted after that last announcement. In light of that, i want to play a little more of what donald trump said about comeys announcement back during the campaign. Lets take a listen. I have to give the fbi credit. That was so bad what happened originally, and it took guts for director comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where theyre trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. You know that. It took a lot of guts. I really disagreed with him. I was not his fan. I tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation. Matt, that was a huge moment during the campaign. Trump had been suffering from the allegations of Sexual Misconduct on his own part, women were coming out, suffering from the tape that leaked from access hollywood and then this came out, changed the narrative. He clearly had a new pep in his step. He had a reason for republicans to rally behind him. That being said, Going Forward, if it they even do find or are they going to be able to get to a point that they do find there were there was actual misconduct, if donald trump gets inaugurated and decides to put the kybosh on this whole thing . He he cant put the kybosh on this short of firing the Inspector General, which would be a gross, gross violation of traditional norms. Well have to watch for that because he continues to walk through democratic norms all the time. But i think two things we can look for. One, you know, this really if the Inspector General finds comey acted inappropriately it will hopefully prevent fbi directors, comey or others, from doing this in the future. I wish they had opened this investigation after the july 5th press conference. Maybe it would have stopped comey from sending that letter later in october. I think theres another potential ram fiction, too. You now have comey under investigation for his conduct during the election. At the same time, he is leading the investigation into whether the Trump Campaign improperly coordinated with russian officials. Weve seen a report they are looking at that. I think it does have you to question, how can comey effectively lead that investigation when his conduct itself is under question . I think it will lend a lot of contradict to those like myself who says there should be a special counsel and Bipartisan Commission to look at what happened during the election with russian interference. Its hard to see how comey cont