Trump Says DOJ Inspector General Report Shows ‘Attempted Overthrow’ Of The Government

President Donald Trump said a Justice Department’s internal watchdog report examining the origins of the Russia investigation shows an “attempted overthrow” of government, pointing to inaccuracies found in FBI surveillance applications related to his 2016 campaign.

The nearly 500-page report, released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, found the FBI was legally justified in opening its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election, but said there were several “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in its surveillance applications to monitor Trump’s former foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

“They fabricated evidence and they lied to the court,” Trump told reporters Monday before a roundtable discussion on education. “This was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it, and they got caught.”

The report also undercut Trump’s claim that the Obama administration illegally spied on his campaign.

Democrats and Republicans both declared victory upon the report’s release.

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In a written statement, Democrats on Capitol Hill said the report debunks conspiracy theories fanned by Trump and Republicans about how the Russia investigation began.

“Those discredited conspiracy theories were attempts to deflect from the President’s serious and ongoing misconduct, first urging Russia and now extorting Ukraine into interfering with our elections to benefit him personally and politically,” said Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, Democrats representing New York and co-chairs of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, respectively.

The report came during a House Judiciary Committee hearing in which lawmakers debated evidence in the impeachment inquiry against Trump. House Democrats allege he sought to pressure Ukraine to announce two investigations that would politically benefit him. Trump has denied the accusations.

The president’s allies were quick to criticize the FBI. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., called the report “deeply disturbing” in a tweet.

“Some former FBI and DOJ officials are about to have some serious explaining to do,” he said.

Attorney General William Barr disagreed with the report’s finding that the FBI was justified in its Russia probe.

“The inspector general’s 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,” Barr said.

Barr is overseeing a parallel criminal investigation into the Russia probe, fueling criticism from Democrats that DOJ has become a tool for Trump’s political retribution.