The report of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz on the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign was as expected.
As with his prior report on FBI Director James Comey’s leaking of information, Horowitz provided a headline version allowing Comey and others to declare exoneration because no criminal referral, while the details were devastating.
And the details were devastating, as John Solomon catalogs, Just how bad was the FBI’s Russia FISA? 51 violations and 9 false statements:
To understand just how shoddy the FBI’s work was in securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant targeting the Trump campaign, you only need to read an obscure attachment to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report.Appendix 1 identifies the total violations by the FBI of the so-called Woods Procedures, the process by which the bureau verifies information and assures the FISA court its evidence is true.The Appendix identifies a total of 51 Woods procedure violations from the FISA application the FBI submitted to the court authorizing surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page starting in October 2016.A whopping nine of those violations fell into the category called: “Supporting document shows that the factual assertion isinaccurate.”For those who don’t speak IG parlance, it means the FBI made nine false assertions to the FISA court. In short, what the bureau said was contradicted by the evidence in its official file.
Solomon then makes the key point:
To put that in perspective, former Trump aides Mike Flynn and George Papadopoulos were convicted of making single false statements to the bureau. One went to jail already, and the other awaits sentencing.The FBI made nine false statements to the court.
So the question is:
If you were as deceptive with the FBI, as the FBI was with the FISA court, how quickly would you be charged?
The answer is:
Pretty damn fast, and pretty damn hard.
Hopefully the statements issued by John Durham and Bill Barr reflect that the FBI officials behind this will be treated the way the FBI treats others.
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