'God knows why': Long wait for DOJ inspector general report on alleged FISA abuses vexes Trump allies

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Washington Examiner

Conflicting signals surround the classification review for the Justice Department inspector general's report on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses.

 

A month after Inspector General Michael Horowitz completed his investigation, there are signs that the declassification process is taking longer than expected at the Justice Department and the FBI, and that has made some Trump allies nervous.

Last weekend, Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo announced that her sources were telling her it would be released Friday. But by Monday, Bartiromo updated her report, tweeting, "IG report NOT out this Friday 10/18. Classifications being made. Likely end of month."

Her colleague at Fox Business, Lou Dobbs, who has long complained of the moving "goal posts" for the release of the FISA report, was irritated by the delay. "We now are told by apparently reliable sources that it’s to be delayed. God knows why," he said on his show Wednesday.

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Where is the FISA report? Anticipation builds as DOJ watchdog still hasn’t released review Brooke Singman

For weeks, it’s been speculated the long-awaited review of alleged surveillance abuses by the Department of Justice and the FBI during the investigation into Russia’s purported meddling in the 2016 presidential election could drop any day.

It’s still not here.

For more than a year and a half, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been investigating alleged misconduct related to the FISA warrants delivered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). The Justice Department and FBI obtained warrants in 2016 to surveil Trump adviser Carter Page. It is unclear, at this point, if Page was the only Trump official that the DOJ obtained a FISA warrant against.

That highly anticipated report will likely spark new congressional investigations and deliver critical information to other federal reviews probing allegations of abuse by the Justice Department and the FBI.

“As soon as Horowitz is done with his review of the FISA warrant application, the counterintelligence investigation, the Trump campaign, we’ll have a hearing in public with Horowitz and we’ll call a bunch of witnesses,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Fox Business’ “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Last month, Horowitz submitted a draft of his report to Attorney General Bill Barr, who was reviewing the document -- fueling the belief that the public release was coming soon.

But a Justice Department official told Fox News last week that the report is still in the declassification process — one of the final steps to be completed before the report is released to the public.

“The FBI and the DOJ are working together smoothly on the declassification process,” the official told Fox News.