United States Attorney John Durham, who was appointed to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe by Attorney General William Barr, has responded to the recent report from the Inspector General on possible FISA abuses during the Trump-Russia investigation.
He strongly disagrees.
Durham has even opened a criminal investigation into some of the activities that took place.
According to Fox News:
The U.S. attorney who is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the origins of the Trump-Russia probe released a rare statement Monday saying he disagrees with conclusions of the so-called FISA report — after DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz found in that review that the probe’s launch largely complied with DOJ and FBI policies.
“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,” U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a 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,” Durham said. “However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.”
As Horowitz has conducted his review of DOJ actions during the Russia probe, Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, has also been conducting a wider inquiry into alleged misconduct and alleged improper government surveillance on the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Attorney General William Barr also expressed his disappointment with the report:
Attorney General William Barr said that a newly released Justice Department watchdog report showed that the FBI launched an “intrusive” investigation of President Trump’s campaign “on the thinnest of suspicions.”
Barr also said that the report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz showed that, in his opinion, the FBI had an “insufficient” basis to justify steps taken in the investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016, putting him at odds with Horowitz, who concluded in the report that the bureau had an “authorized purpose” to open the investigation.
“It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration,” Barr said.
The attorney general also said that 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” in a “rush” to maintain surveillance warrants on members of the Trump campaign.
The report did, however, shed light on the lack of ability of James Comey to lead the FBI which is evidenced by the countless procedural mistakes made by his senior officials.
