The Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz has reportedly found evidence that a lawyer for the FBI “manipulated” material in order to obtain FISA warrants against Trump campaign officials.
“Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has found evidence that an FBI lawyer manipulated a key investigative document related to the FBI’s secretive surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser — enough to change the substantive meaning of the document, according to multiple reports,” reports Fox News.
“The new evidence concerning the altered document, which pertained to the FBI’s FISA court warrant application to surveil Page, is expected to be outlined in Horowitz’s upcoming report. CNN first reported the news, which was largely confirmed by The Washington Post,” adds Fox.
“Sources told Fox News last month that U.S. Attorney John Durham’s separate, ongoing probe into potential FBI and Justice Department misconduct in the run-up to the 2016 election through the spring of 2017 has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation — and that Horowitz’s report will shed light on why Durham’s probe has become a criminal inquiry,” concludes the report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Source: Fox News
GRAHAM ON HANNITY: The Collusion Narrative is Dead, FISA Abuse Narrative Growing ‘EVERY DAY’
Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham spoke with Sean Hannity Tuesday night to weigh-in on the escalating FISA abuse scandal sweeping the DOJ; saying all Americans “should be concerned” if the nation’s top-secret courts were “lied to.”
“Horowitz will be coming out soon with his internal review of the FISA warrant application, and whether or not the court was defrauded by the Department of Justice and the FBI. The collusion narrative has died with the Mueller report, and the corruption narrative is growing every day,” said Graham.
“Every American should be concerned about whether the FISA court was lied to. Every American should be worried about whether our government used foreign governments to do things that are prohibited by law,” he added.
Graham slammed the DOJ’s handling of Hillary’s botched email probe earlier this month; saying there’s little doubt she “committed obstruction of justice.”
“The bulk of information in the FISA application in October 2016 that led directly to spying on the Trump campaign, was the Hillary, phony Russian Dossier. James Comey signed it,” said Hannity.
“It’s not a theory. We know that Comey told the President that I want you to know about the unverified dossier. That’s the same document given to the court in October. Those two things don’t add up. Those are facts that need to be reconciled,” said Graham.
“There was no collusion with the Russians. Case closed, let’s look at all these other people and find out how we got in this mess to begin with… Taking a hammer to a phone, bleaching evidence are classic examples of Obstruction of Justice,” he added.
Recently obtained emails exchanged between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page show the FBI aimed to accommodate requests from Hillary Clinton’s lawyers leading up to the 2016 race for the White House.
“Internal FBI emails released Monday show FBI officials in 2016 sought to ‘expeditiously’ accommodate a request for information from then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s lawyer, in what a conservative watchdog group claimed is evidence of ‘special treatment,’” reports Fox News.
“Judicial Watch – a group that routinely sues for government records – obtained and released 218 pages of emails between former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Many of the emails have to do with the bureau’s investigation into whether Clinton improperly used a private email server as secretary of state to discuss classified information,” adds the article.
“The emails released Monday, meanwhile, show then-FBI General Counsel James Baker writing that he spoke with Clinton’s lawyer, David Kendall, in August 2016 and promised that the FBI would work to hand over a copy of the 302 from Clinton’s interview ‘expeditiously,’” writes Fox.
GRAHAM ON HANNITY: The Inspector General Will Testify Under Oath About FISA Abuse Report
Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham stopped-by ‘Hannity’ Wednesday night to comment on the Inspector General’s report into widespread FISA abuse; saying Mr. Horowitz will testify under oath in the coming weeks.
“When are you we going to get the Inspector General’s report on FISA abuse?” asked Hannity.
“I can promise you this, the Senate Judiciary Committee will call Mr. Horowitz, and he will testify under oath about this report. We’re going to declassify as much as we can including FISA warrant applications,” said Graham.
“Transparency and accountability are my goals… Here’s what I believe without any doubt, the dossier remains unverified to this day, and the author of the dossier was on the payroll of the Democratic Party,” he added.
Sen. Lindsey Graham called-on Attorney General Bill Barr to release a series of documents related to allegations of widespread FISA abuse during the 2016 election; saying the American people have a right to view the “complete results” of the Inspector General’s investigation.
“Since March 28, 2018, the Department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, has been conducting an investigation into the Department’s and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable Department and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) related to Carter Page. According to Inspector General David Horowitz that investigation is nearing completion,” Graham wrote in a letter to the Attorney General.
“In order for the Inspector General to be able to present the most complete results of his investigation to Congress and the American people, certain documents will need to be declassified and released to the public. I write to urge you to declassify all documents the Inspector General identifies as appropriate for declassification as much as possible, without harming national security,” he added.
Read Graham’s full letter to the Attorney General here.