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By Daniel Chaitin, Washington Examiner
House Republicans may soon send more criminal referrals related to the Russia investigation to the Justice Department.
Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a notification about eight criminal referrals targeting individuals tied to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, including some that had to do with leaks, in April 2019. On May 1, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department had opened "multiple criminal leak investigations," after which it was revealed he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to review possible misconduct by federal law enforcement and intelligence officials in the Russia inquiry.
Nunes told Fox News on Saturday that newly declassified footnotes in the Justice Department watchdog report on the FBI's Russia investigation will "likely" generate new criminal referrals.
“I would say that people should go and look at those footnotes that are now public," the California Republican said, adding, "Likely, we’re going to have more criminal referrals based on these."
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December criticizing the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page and for the bureau's reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified anti-Trump dossier. The dossier was put together at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.
After GOP senators pressed the Justice Department and acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a few footnotes in that report that were previously blacked out were unmasked and revealed to the public. They showed that the FBI kept using Steele’s anti-Trump dossier even after receiving classified reports in 2017 showing key parts of the research were traced to Russian disinformation. More could be unmasked soon.
“We know that the Democrats were spreading disinformation, Russian disinformation, which we have been saying the whole time," Nunes said on Fox & Friends. "It never made sense that you would have a political operative like the Clinton campaign working with Fusion GPS, hiring a former foreign spy that they know is supposedly getting information from Russian intel folks. That doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”
Barr talked about the FISA controversy and offered some insight into Durham's inquiry during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham that aired last week.
"The people who abused FISA have a lot to answer for," he said. At least one former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, is under criminal investigation after Horowitz found he altered a document in the Page FISA filings.
Horowitz determined last year the FBI properly opened its counterintelligence investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, into potential ties between the Kremlin and Trump campaign in the summer of 2016. After FBI Director James Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017, Robert Mueller was appointed to be the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation.
Dubbed a "witch hunt" by Trump and his allies, Mueller's team did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump team and Russia but did lay out possible instances of obstruction of justice that were seized on by Democrats last spring. Democrats have also criticized Durham's now-criminal investigation as a politically motivated scheme to undermine the work of Mueller and attack Trump's perceived enemies.
Barr argued Trump had "every right" to be upset with the investigation, noting he believes "what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history."
Breaking with Horowitz, Barr said, "Without any basis, they started this investigation of his campaign, and even more concerning, actually is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage his presidency — or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”
“My own view is that the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness," the attorney general said. "There is something far more troubling here, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted."
See more at Washington Examiner
House Republicans may soon send more criminal referrals related to the Russia investigation to the Justice Department.
Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a notification about eight criminal referrals targeting individuals tied to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, including some that had to do with leaks, in April 2019. On May 1, Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department had opened "multiple criminal leak investigations," after which it was revealed he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to review possible misconduct by federal law enforcement and intelligence officials in the Russia inquiry.
Nunes told Fox News on Saturday that newly declassified footnotes in the Justice Department watchdog report on the FBI's Russia investigation will "likely" generate new criminal referrals.
“I would say that people should go and look at those footnotes that are now public," the California Republican said, adding, "Likely, we’re going to have more criminal referrals based on these."
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December criticizing the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page and for the bureau's reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified anti-Trump dossier. The dossier was put together at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.
After GOP senators pressed the Justice Department and acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a few footnotes in that report that were previously blacked out were unmasked and revealed to the public. They showed that the FBI kept using Steele’s anti-Trump dossier even after receiving classified reports in 2017 showing key parts of the research were traced to Russian disinformation. More could be unmasked soon.
“We know that the Democrats were spreading disinformation, Russian disinformation, which we have been saying the whole time," Nunes said on Fox & Friends. "It never made sense that you would have a political operative like the Clinton campaign working with Fusion GPS, hiring a former foreign spy that they know is supposedly getting information from Russian intel folks. That doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”
Barr talked about the FISA controversy and offered some insight into Durham's inquiry during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham that aired last week.
"The people who abused FISA have a lot to answer for," he said. At least one former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, is under criminal investigation after Horowitz found he altered a document in the Page FISA filings.
Horowitz determined last year the FBI properly opened its counterintelligence investigation, known as Crossfire Hurricane, into potential ties between the Kremlin and Trump campaign in the summer of 2016. After FBI Director James Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017, Robert Mueller was appointed to be the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation.
Dubbed a "witch hunt" by Trump and his allies, Mueller's team did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump team and Russia but did lay out possible instances of obstruction of justice that were seized on by Democrats last spring. Democrats have also criticized Durham's now-criminal investigation as a politically motivated scheme to undermine the work of Mueller and attack Trump's perceived enemies.
Barr argued Trump had "every right" to be upset with the investigation, noting he believes "what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history."
Breaking with Horowitz, Barr said, "Without any basis, they started this investigation of his campaign, and even more concerning, actually is what happened after the campaign, a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage his presidency — or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”
“My own view is that the evidence shows that we’re not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness," the attorney general said. "There is something far more troubling here, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted."
See more at Washington Examiner
