Report: FBI failed to act in Foley case

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- A U.S. Justice Department report in Washington says the FBI failed to act when given evidence of misconduct by U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.

The report, written by Inspector General Glenn Fine, said the FBI should have acted when presented with the "troubling" electronic messages sent to congressional pages by Foley, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Fine's report contradicted statements made by the FBI and officials within the Justice Department when the story broke last fall. They said the group that provided the FBI with Foley's messages, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, had been uncooperative and withheld crucial information, but Fine said in his report that the group had provided the messages to the FBI within days of obtaining them in July 2006 and the bureau never requested further information from CREW.

"We believe that the e-mails provided enough troubling indications on their face, particularly given the position of trust and authority that Foley held with respect to House pages, that a better practice for the FBI would have been to take at least some follow-up steps," the report concluded.