Source: Barr disputes IG finding in Russia probe

AG disagrees there was enough information to investigate Trump campaign.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report that the FBI had — enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, is due to release his long-awaited findings on Monday, but behind the scenes at the Justice Department, disagreement has surfaced about one of Horowitz’s central conclusions on the origins of the Russia investigation. The discord could be the prelude to a major fissure within federal law enforcement on the controversial question of investigating a presidential campaign.

Barr has not been swayed by Horowitz’s rationale for concluding that the FBI had sufficient basis to open an investigation on July 31, 2016, these people said.

Barr’s public defenses of President Donald Trump, including his assertion that intelligence agents spied on the Trump campaign, have led Democrats to accuse him of acting like the president’s personal attorney and eroding the independence of the Justice Department. But Trump and his Republican allies have cheered Barr’s skep

ticism of the Russia investigation. It’s not yet clear how Barr plans to make his objection to Horowitz’s conclusion known. The inspector general report, currently in draft form, is being finalized after input from various witnesses and offices that were scrutinized by the inspector general. Barr or a senior Justice Department official could submit a formal letter as part of that process, which would then be included in the final report. It is standard practice for every inspector general report to include a written response from the department. Barr could forgo a written rebuttal on that specific point and just publicly state his concerns.

Representatives for the inspector general and the FBI declined to comment.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the inspector general investigation “is a credit to the Department of Justice. His excellent work has uncovered significant information that the American people will soon be able to read for themselves. Rather than speculating, people should read the report for themselves next week, watch the Inspector General’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and draw their own conclusions about these important matters.”

The Russia investigation was opened after the FBI was told of statements made by a then-Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, that the Russians possessed hacked Hillary Clinton emails. Papodopoulos’s alleged comments were key because they were made well before any public allegation that Russian intelligence operatives had hacked the Democratic National Committee.

GETTY IMAGES Attorney General William Barr is not swayed by the inspector general’s rationale that the FBI had sufficient basis to open an investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign.