Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Michael Horowitz’s report is “devastating” for former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”

The DOJ’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its internal report Friday reviewing the department’s conduct during its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official business while serving as secretary of state.

The report revealed that McCabe lied four times to federal investigators and Comey about leaking information to The Wall Street Journal about the Clinton probe. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March, only hours before his retirement with a pension was set to begin.

The day after Comey’s first televised interview following his May 2017 firing aired on ABC News, King said that the report is “devastating” for both McCabe and Comey.

“[McCabe was] the number-two person in the FBI, and he’s accused of either misleading testimony or not telling the truth,” King said. “No matter how you look at it, this is a serious, serious matter for the number-two person in the FBI, especially on such an important matter as the Clinton investigation.”

“But it also raises real issues about Jim Comey,” King continued. “Here’s the director of the FBI, here’s the number-two person, the person [Comey] relied on has now been accused of lying and has … been fired. And this was done by an Obama appointee.” Former President Barack Obama appointed Horowitz in 2012.

“He’s independent and he was appointed by the Obama administration,” King said. “So this is devastating to McCabe, it’s devastating to Comey, and it really raises issues about the top echelons of the FBI — not the rank-and-file agents who do a great job.”

King said that the “top level” at the FBI under Comey’s leadership “seems to have either been badly mismanaged, corrupt or just not doing their job the way the FBI is supposed to do it.”

Comey currently is touting his upcoming book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership.”

When asked if he believed there would be some “accountability” within the FBI and DOJ after the report’s release, King replied, “I would think there would have to be.”

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“I know the FBI concluded that General [Michael] Flynn had not lied in his statements to them, and yet later on he was forced to plead guilty to lying,” King said. “And this case, where there’s been an actual finding by the FBI [and] that McCabe did lie, I don’t see how he avoids prosecution.”

Flynn briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser until he resigned in February 2017, after reports revealed that he had misrepresented to Vice President Mike Pence his contact with a Russian ambassador. Flynn pled guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion.

“I think in this case, Andrew McCabe should receive at least the same treatment as General Flynn, if not more,” King said.

Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) also appeared Monday on “America’s Newsroom” to discuss the DOJ’s OIG report. He predicted that McCabe in particular will suffer harsh repercussions.

“If I were going to make a prediction, I would expect there to be a criminal referral in this matter, and I would expect that Andrew McCabe will be facing the same types of charges that Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos are facing,” Ratcliffe said.

Flynn, Gates and Papadopolous all pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI. Ratcliffe said that he “certainly” believes McCabe should suffer the same consequences as those three, based on the DOJ’s OIG report.

“Again, this is the Department of Justice investigating itself and finding misconduct on not one, not two, not three but four different occasions, some of those under oath,” Ratcliffe said. “That, I believe, even though I’m not in the business of prosecuting people anymore, I believe in this case will be a prosecutable crime.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.

(photo credit, article image: FBI Director James Comey…, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Rich Girard)