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.
Watch: Patriots Player Helps Take Down Field Invader in Moment Not Seen During Broadcast
Ghislaine Maxwell pleads Fifth Amendment, dodges questions in House Oversight Epstein probe
GOP accelerates Trump judge confirmations as pressure builds to kill Senate blue slip
Turning Point USA’s Alternative Halftime Show Draws Huge Numbers
Nancy Guthrie’s church prays God would ‘guide the authorities’ in search
US forces hunt down and board tanker ship defying Trump admin quarantine
Hochul running mate voted to allow noncitizen voting in NYC elections
Bogus businesses and ‘lax’ oversight: How hospice fraud has flourished in California
Bad Bunny’s halftime show ripped for suspected political message and more top headlines
The 2028 Democratic presidential contender must-have accessory: a tell-all book
Trump defends Minneapolis federal enforcement, says crime plunged after ‘thousands of criminals’ removed
Far-left group with foreign ties undermining US under guise of protest, report warns
SCOOP: Trump ally Kid Rock jumps into key governor’s race with high-profile endorsement
The world’s top nuclear powers have no arsenal limits, here are the countries with nukes
Affirmative Action Quotas in Question as Female, Minority Pilots Caused Half of Pilot-Error Crashes
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.
