The long awaited for Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Report into the investigation of the FBI on whether or not laws were broken in their acquisition of FISA warrants was finally released.
After almost two years, one million documents and nearly 200 interviews, the 476-page IG Report including an Executive Summary was released on Monday afternoon to much anticipation.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz looked into the origins of Russian interference into the 2016 election specifically questions about the surveillance of the Trump Presidential campaign and the people associated it. The objective was to establish whether there was any justification for the surveillance and whether or not political bias played a major role in that decision.
The result was a mixed bag with contentious conclusions which denies that any political bias influenced the FBI’s decision to monitor Carter Page and spy on the Trump Campaign. That conclusion is already being challenged.
While the IG Report seems to absolve the FBI of political bias, it nonetheless indicates that it found several glaring problems on the FISA application to obtain warrants to spy on Trump campaign officials and how it was renewed on three separate occasions. Also found were several glaring problems.
According to Horowitz, at least 17 significant “inaccuracies and omissions” in FISA applications were found. For instance, an FBI lawyer doctored material to apply for the warrant and that the FBI relied heavily on the Steel Dossier to obtain its FISA applications.
The IG Report also indicated that while the FBI relied heavily on the Steel Dossier, it did not focus on former British spy Christopher Steel’s funding source. It later discovered that source was Fusion GPS.
Responding to the report during a roundtable session on education and school choice at The White House, President Trump said the revelations were “an embarrassment to our country.”
“I was just briefed on it and it’s a disgrace what’s happened with respect to the things that were done to our country. It should never again happen to another President.”
“it is incredible. Far worse than I would’ve ever thought possible. It’s an embarrassment to our country, it’s dishonest. It’s everything that a lot of people thought it would be, except far worse,” he added.
While Democrats and their media allies may be rejoicing on what they claim to be vindication of some rogue former FBI senior officials by the conclusion of the IG Report, Horowitz did, however, find cases of serious political bias and abuse of power which he later tried to excuse and shove under the rug.
The 17 instances of infractions cited in the report are pretty damning and prove serious misconduct on the part of the FBI under the leadership of James Comey. It also shows that the FISA Court was deceived by the FBI and that what happened wasn’t just a failure on the part of the lower level staff but something that was taking place all the way up and down the chain of command.
The report also elicited some responses from former FBI and other Intelligence chiefs.
According to former FBI chiefs, they indicate that while the Bureau has had some issues in the past, what happened under the leadership of James Comey is unprecedented and the Bureau has never faced anything like it. The IG Report, they state, is damning and is a serious indictment of the failed leadership at the top and the culture they fostered, embraced and presided over.
Both the U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and top U.S. Attorney John Durham who disagree with the IG findings and conclusions have each issued their own statements to the effect. While AG Barr had claimed that friendly foreign govts supplied initial information to set the probe into motion, he still questioned the conclusion of the report.
“The Inspector Generals’ Report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. Presidential Campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” he said in a statement.
“It is also clear that, from inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory,” Barr added in frustration.
“In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, FBI officials misled the FISA Court, omitted critical exculpatory facts from their filings and suppressed or ignored information negating the reliability of their principal source.”
Durham who is a Prosecutor is conducting his own investigation into conducts of the Russia probe issued a rare statement.
“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff,” he said in reference to the 476-page IG Report which found may errors but seemed to tip-toe around the issue of political bias.
“However, out investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Depart. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both inside the US and outside the US.
“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened,” said Durham in reference to the FBI’s investigation into the Trump Campaign codenamed, ‘Crossfire Hurricane’.
Unlike the Inspector General who has no power to press charges or to empanel a grand jury, Durham can file criminal charges and empanel a grand jury. Disagreements with the IG Report’s conclusions indicate is that it is not over by a long stretch. The IG Report serves as a preliminary first step on the next long path to finding the truth to what really happened under the FBI’s corrupt leadership of Comey.
Trump in his response was characteristically blunt but also selective in his assessment of the report., saying “it s a disgrace.” He also zeroed in on the omissions and went further to say, they tried to “overthrow” and “they got caught red-handed” adding, “Nothing like this should ever happen again to another President.”
Inspector General Michael Horowitz released the report the same time as the House Judiciary Committee was holding its second impeachment hearing against President Trump.
Read the complete DOJ IG Report here.
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