It’s been a long time. We’ve waited on this report for a long time, folks. And finally, it’s here. On December 9, it will be released. The Department of Justice’s inspector general report of the alleged FISA abuses that are at the heart of the Russian collusion and Trump campaign spying allegations. Was there bias? Well, someone is leaking something because The Washington Post and The New York Times are saying there isn’t any evidence of that, but that lower-level FBI officials were incredibly reckless concerning honoring surveillance protocols. The spin mode has been activated (via WaPo):
The Russia Hoaxers have apparently settled on “We did nothing wrong, but if we did, it was all the fault of some low-level employees in Cincinnati” as their primary spin on the Horowitz IG report, which they haven’t read (and isn’t even finished). https://t.co/lUHe4fOdAa
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) November 22, 2019
The Justice Department’s internal watchdog is expected to find in a forthcoming report that political bias did not taint top officials running the FBI investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016, while at the same time criticizing the bureau for systemic failures in its handling of surveillance applications, according to two U.S. officials.
The report due out Dec. 9 from Inspector General Michael Horowitz will allege that a low-level FBI lawyer inappropriately altered a document that was used as part of a controversial application for electronic surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser, the officials said. The inspector general referred that finding to U.S. Attorney John Durham, so that he may investigate it as a possible crime, they said.
But Horowitz will conclude that the application still had a proper legal and factual basis, according to the officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive report.
In broad terms, the report refutes accusations of a political conspiracy by senior law enforcement officials against the Trump campaign to favor Democrat Hillary Clinton, while also knocking the bureau for procedural shortcomings, said the officials. On balance, they said, it provides a mixed assessment of the bureau and department’s undertaking of a probe that became highly politicized and divided the nation.
“You can see how the warring factions will seize on the various parts of this to advance their respective narratives,” said a person familiar with the inspector general investigation.
Again, we’ll have to wait and see. The quality and accuracy of anonymous sources have gone right into the gutter post-2016. And a lot of questions remain concerning what exactly occurred within the halls of the J. Edgar Hoover building. The FISA warrant that was secured for Trump official Carter Page was based on the contents of the unverified Trump dossier, which was compiled by ex-MI6 spook Christopher Steele and funded by the Clinton campaign and the Democrats. The glaring errors suggest there was no attempt to vet the political opposition research file. Why?
The Trump dossier is also reportedly a reference to the insurance policy fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok mentioned to his mistress Lisa Page. The two exchanged tens of thousands of anti-Trump texts, which embarrassed the FBI and stained their reputation and credibility as a professional investigative body. It also added to the allegation the bureau was pulling punches in order to not burn Hillary Clinton. Strzok was a top counterintelligence agent who was a key person in the Russian collusion probe that eventually become the special counsel investigation headed by Robert Mueller and the analysis of Hillary Clinton’s email server. Also, let’s say the report lays out a case for a lack of bias, it’s still bad for Obama’s DOJ and the Democrats. It’s still bad that the nation’s leading domestic intelligence and surveillance agency were screwing up basic procedures. One person altered a FISA warrant application…how is that not indicative of bias? People have been referred for possible criminal charges. Let’s wait and see what happens after Thanksgiving.