Attorney General William Barr reportedly disagrees with a finding by the forthcoming Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) report that the FBI had sufficient reason to monitor the Trump campaign in 2016.
The FBI conducted surveillance on Trump campaign associates, including foreign policy aide Carter Page, on the basis of suspicions that the campaign might have been colluding with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election.
No evidence of collusion was ever found, though the surveillance continued well after the election, and the fact that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign over Russia was leaked to Democrats and to the mainstream media.
The IG report is expected to criticize the FBI for the way in which it approached the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court to obtain a warrant for that surveillance. The FBI partly relied upon the so-called “dossier” prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele for Fusion GPS, an opposition research company being paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Republicans have claimed that the FBI failed to corroborate the unproven allegations in the dossier, and hid its political origins from the FISA court.
Man sentenced to 6 months in jail for ramming car into Jewish group’s world headquarters in New York
Trump admin invokes 30-year dormant terror court as it seeks to deport Afghan woman tied to Election Day plot
Lindsay Clancy prosecutors ‘squeeze’ timeline from ex-husband as jury weighs ‘murder versus madness’: expert
Army conducts first overseas test of ‘Hammer of the Gods’ weapon-disrupting system
Grandmother’s missed pickup leads to grim discovery in church parking lot
Clinton, Obama-era Democratic heavyweights Penn and Emanuel rip NYC’s Mamdani over taxes, Israel, blast DSA
Revealed: The DNC Lost Almost $30k to Email Scammer – No Word Yet if the Employee Was DEI or the Scammer Was a Deposed Nigerian Prince
Breaking: US Launches Airstrikes in Iran, Saudi Arabia Joins in as Iran Is Pushed to ‘Tipping Point’
DOJ suffers setback in New Jersey voter roll lawsuit despite illegal registrants scandal
Watch: Sen. Josh Hawley Illustrates the Absurdity of Fauci’s Hearing Stunt with 3 Questions
Trump AG pick Blanche stalled as key Republicans refuse to budge
Trump Going to SCOTUS to Have Punitive $83 Million E. Jean Carroll Decision Reversed
Perverse History Surfaces in Murder-Suicide Deaths of Seemingly Storybook Family of 8 Who Burned in Own Home
Ted Cruz demands Fauci face jail time, labels him America’s ‘most damaging bureaucrat’
Watch: Bodycam Footage of Tony Romo’s Arrest and Sobriety Test Raises Questions
But there have been conflicting leaks about what the report, which is set to be released next Monday, will say about misconduct at the FBI. Several individuals have already seen drafts of the report, as they are mentioned in it.
The Washington Post reported Monday evening that IG Michael Horowitz, an Obama administration appointee, had concluded that there was, in fact, sufficient evidence to justify what Barr earlier called “spying” on the campaign.
Barr reportedly disagreed, though a spokesperson for the DOJ dismissed reports of a dispute between Barr and Horowitz: “Rather than speculating, people should read the report for themselves next week,” she said.
Horowitz was criticized for his 2018 report on how the FBI handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s illicit email server, in which he found that officials mishandled the investigation but that political bias was not the reason.
Story cited here.
