Until the dust settles, both sides are going to claim their positions have been vindicated. Here’s what we know so far.
The long-anticipated IG report has finally dropped.
Here is what the official press release looks like:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2019
DOJ OIG Releases Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of a Review of Four FISA Applications and Other Aspects of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation. The DOJ Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) findings are summarized in the report’s Executive Summary, available at the links below. During this review, the OIG examined more than one million documents that were in the DOJ’s and FBI’s possession and conducted over 170 interviews involving more than 100 witnesses. The scope of the OIG’s review included:
The decision to open an FBI investigation on July 31, 2016 known as “Crossfire Hurricane” and four individual cases on current and former members of the Trump campaign, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Michael Flynn; the early investigative steps taken; and whether the openings and early steps complied with DOJ and FBI policies (Chapter 3);
The FBI’s relationship with Christopher Steele, whom the FBI considered to be a confidential human source (CHS); its receipt, use, and evaluation of electronic reports from Steele; and its decision to close Steele as an FBI CHS (Chapters 4- 6);
Four FBI applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) in 2016 and 2017 to conduct Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance targeting Carter Page; and whether these applications complied with DOJ and FBI policies and satisfied the government’s obligations to the FISC (Chapter 5-8);
The interactions of DOJ attorney Bruce Ohr with Steele, the FBI, Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, and the State Department; whether work Ohr’s spouse performed for Fusion GPS implicated ethical rules applicable to Ohr; and Ohr’s interactions with DOJ attorneys regarding the Manafort criminal case (Chapter 9); and
The FBI’s use of Undercover Employees (UCEs) and CHSs other than Steele in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation; whether the FBI placed any CHSs within the Trump campaign or tasked any CHSs to report on the Trump campaign; whether the use of CHSs and UCEs complied with DOJ and FBI policies; and the attendance of a Crossfire Hurricane supervisory agent at counterintelligence briefings given to the 2016 presidential candidates and certain campaign advisors (Chapter 10). The OIG’s analysis appears in Chapter 11 and the OIG’s conclusions and 9 recommendations to the DOJ and FBI appear in Chapter 12. The FBI’s response to the OIG’s report is included in the report as an attachment. Today’s report is available on the DOJ OIG website, and at either of the following links:
Read the report on the OIG’s website: https://www.justice.gov/storage/120919- examination.pdf
Read the report on Oversight.gov: https://www.oversight.gov/report/doj/review-fourfisa-applications-and-other-aspects-fbi%E2%80%99s-crossfire-hurricane-investigation
The Left will happily cheer that this absolves their side of any blame of any elaborate political conspiracy in politicizing the FBI against the Republican Presidential Candidate.
And in a certain light, they will be right to cheer this report, since it dimisses any claims of political motive.
But that leaves out the REST of the story.
For one thing, there is a parallel investigation, one that as recently morphed into a CRIMINAL investigation by the respected non-partisan John Durham.
Bill Barr has weighed in with something that should cut short any Democrat crowing:
“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 in a statement, referring to Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
Barr expressed frustration that the FBI continued investigating the Trump campaign, even as “exculpatory” evidence came to the light.
“It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory,” Barr said, Fox News reported.
“Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.”
After speaking well of the Inspector General and his work he adds something:
“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 inside the US and outside the US,” continued Durham, the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut.
“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,” he concluded, referring to Crossfire Hurricane, the feds’ probe of Russia and Trump’s campaign.
Source: NYPost
The criminal investigation is ongoing, and we don’t yet know the hammer will fall on. But it sure looks like it’s gonna land on somebody.
And when it does, will even the most devoutly Democrat media be able to shield them from the fallout?
Is this the real reason the Democrats are hellbent for leather to push this impeachment process forward?
