FISA report: DOJ watchdog releases findings on Russia probe surveillance

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Fox News

Ronn Blitzer, Brooke Singman

Dec. 9 2019

The Justice Department’s inspector general on Monday released the long-awaited internal review concerning the origins of the Russia investigation, revealing that while the probe's launch complied with DOJ and FBI policies, there are "significant concerns with how certain aspects of the investigation were conducted and supervised."

Specifically, the report concluded that investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding efforts to seek a highly controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early months of the Russia investigation -- but faulted the FBI over numerous "omissions" and "inaccuracies" in the application process.

The IG probe identified at least 17 "significant" errors in the Page applications and said they would launch a new audit into the FISA process.

At the same time, the report said key officials including former FBI bosses James Comey and Andrew McCabe did not act with political bias and extended a similar finding to the overall surveillance efforts targeting Page.

“We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page,” the report said.

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‘Authorized Purpose’ Existed To Investigate Trump Campaign’s Possible Russian Connections, Inspector General Announces

Chris Walker

December 9, 2019

For several months, President Donald Trump and many of his allies have pushed a conspiracy theory alleging that a wiretap surveillance against a member of his campaign staff in 2016 was essentially an effort by the FBI to spy on him.

The claims, which have coalesced into a theory described by those on the right as “Spygate,” according to CNN, included the notion that the FBI wrongly altered documents in order to obtain a FISA warrant against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, in order to determine if he had been having improper communications with Russian government agents.

However, on Monday afternoon, the findings of an inspector general’s report revealed that, while problems within the investigation were found, the surveillance was not without justification.

The FBI application for a FISA warrant had “significant inaccuracies and omissions,” the report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found. But ultimately, Horowitz’s team concluded that the FBI had “authorized purpose” to investigate Page’s communications, the Washington Post reported. The report also found that there wasn’t any political bias against Trump that led to the actions the FBI took.

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Statement by Attorney General William P. Barr on the Inspector General's Report of the Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation

Attorney General William P. Barr issued the following statement:

"Nothing is more important than the credibility and integrity of the FBI and the Department of Justice.  That is why we must hold our investigators and prosecutors to the highest ethical and professional standards.  The Inspector General’s investigation has provided critical transparency and accountability, and his work is a credit to the Department of Justice.  I would like to thank the Inspector General and his team.

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The comments are as always....enlightening

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