Yesterday’s release of Inspector General Horowitz’s report on the origin of the investigations into the Trump campaign brought to official light a pattern of misconduct on the part of the FBI and confirmed aspects that had been publicly discussed for some time. The report outlines 17 specific ‘inaccuracies and omissions’ just in the requests the FBI made to the FISA Court for warrants regarding Carter Page, one of several Trump campaign officials targeted by the agency. Inexplicably, the IG concluded there was no ‘bias’ in the origin or conduct of the investigation — thus clearly disregarding already publicized text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that strongly indicate the opposite. As others have said online, when established procedures are violated 17 times, all in the same direction (to the disadvantage of the target), that’s not a coincidence or innocent mistake — that’s deliberate enemy action. The Attorney General, Bill Barr, was more blunt:
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. 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. In the rush to obtain and maintain FISA surveillance of Trump campaign associates, 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. …[T]he malfeasance and misfeasance detailed in the Inspector General’s report reflects a clear abuse of the FISA process.
In addition, U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is known to be conducting a criminal investigation into this and related matters, strongly hinted more information is to come:
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. 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. (emphasis added)
Durham has broader power to investigate than did Horowitz, so his public disagreement with aspects of the OIG report is significant. What all this seems to tell us is that we’ve only seen a peek at corruption involved. Fully lifting the veil — and crucially, holding people accountable — is yet to come. Continue to pray for our nation.
A True Progressive 