On Monday afternoon Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released the long awaited report into FISA abuse during the 2016 presidential election.
The report found that while there were nearly two dozen serious errors FBI agents made while applying for a FISA warrant, the investigation was justified.
But in a rare statement released Monday afternoon, U.S. Attorney John Durham issued a serious disagreement with the report's findings and said it was limited in scope.
“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. However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department," Durham said. "Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. 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.”
Inspector General investigators are only capable of interviewing individuals in the Department of Justice. They cannot access information from other federal government agencies or compel anyone outside of DOJ to be interviewed. Further, the Inspector General can only recommend prosecution for those found to have engaged in illegal wrongdoing.
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Durham, who has worked for Republican and Democrat administrations, was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr earlier this year to conduct a criminal investigation into how the Russia investigation was started and how a FISA warrant was obtained to spy on the Trump campaign. His investigative authority is broad and unlike the Inspector General, he has the ability to prosecute. His office is capable of issuing subpoenas outside of the Department of Justice, to individuals throughout the federal government, overseas and more.
The results of Durham's investigation are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
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