USA TODAY International Edition
Faults found in FBI’s surveillance
But Russia probe was legally justified, inspector general says
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department’s internal watchdog found the surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser was riddled with errors, raising questions about its justification.
The report, released Monday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, identified 17 inaccuracies across three surveillance applications, effectively inflating the justification for monitoring former foreign policy adviser Carter Page starting in fall 2016.
Horowitz, however, concluded the FBI was legally justified in launching its inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. There was no “documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to conduct these operations,” the report said.
The 400- page report debunks claims by President Donald Trump and his allies that political bias played a role in the FBI’s decision to investigate members of the Trump campaign for possible coordination with Russia. Horowitz also said there was “no evidence” the FBI placed any undercover sources or agents in the Trump campaign or had them attend campaign events.
The criticism of the FBI’s surveillance activities, however, is central to the report’s findings and is likely to fuel new attacks from Trump and GOP allies.
The review, launched in March 2018
in response to requests from Republican lawmakers, examined the FBI’s decision to investigate four Trump associates and campaign aides: Page, former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Papadopoulos caught the attention of the FBI after he boasted to an Australian diplomat that Russia had offered political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The diplomat alerted the FBI.
Page had longstanding ties to Russia and admitted meeting with Kremlin officials on a July 2016 trip to Moscow. Manafort and Flynn also have ties to Russia and traveled there.
Horowitz also examined the FBI’s relationship with Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer who was hired by Fusion GPS, a research firm working for Clinton’s campaign.
Steele wrote a “dossier” alleging ties between Trump and Russia. The FBI relied on Steele’s research on Page’s activities in Russia when it sought a court- ordered surveillance of Page.
Throughout the report, the inspector general raised questions about the management of the high- profile, politically charged investigation. “So many basic and fundamental errors” were made by investigative teams handpicked to conduct one of the FBI’s most sensitive investigations, the report said.
Among the most common errors in the wiretap applications for Page were the omission of important information, including some that contradicted investigators’ suspicions.
For example, in its wiretap applications, the FBI didn’t note Page’s denial that he had been involved in revising a part of the Republican platform to be more favorable to Russia. The FBI didn’t include Page’s denials that he had talked to allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin about lifting sanctions and giving the Trump campaign damaging information about Clinton.
And the FBI omitted information about Steele and included inaccurate details about him.
Those errors “made it appear as though the evidence supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case,” the report said.
The decision to rely on Steele’s reporting “to help establish that Page was an agent of Russia” was supported by “FBI officials at every level,” it said.
The inspector general found “no evidence” that FBI officials raised any concerns about the reliability of Steele’s information with top officials, including then- FBI Director James Comey.
Horowitz singled out Bruce Ohr, an FBI lawyer and associate deputy attorney general, for additional review. The report suggested Ohr had an inherent conflict of interest, in part because his wife was an independent contractor for Fusion GPS. Horowitz sharply criticized Ohr for communicating with Steele during the investigation and not disclosing that to his supervisors.
In a written response, FBI Director Christopher Wray called the report “constructive criticism that will make us stronger as an organization.”
Attorney General William Barr, who is leading a parallel inquiry, disagreed with Horowitz’s finding that the FBI’s investigation was justified.
Despite his criticism, Horowitz’s inquiry found the FBI’s decision to investigate Page, Papadopoulos, Flynn and Manafort followed Justice policies.
In determining whether bias played a role, Horowitz examined text messages exchanged by Peter Strzok, a former FBI counterintelligence agent assigned to the investigation, and Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer.
Horowitz determined that the messages, which were hostile toward Trump, “created an appearance of bias” and “raised serious questions” about the validity of decisions involving the two.
But Horowitz noted that Lisa Page did not play a role in the decision to investigate Trump’s campaign aides. Although Strzok was involved, “he was not the sole, or even the highest level decision maker,” the report said.
Strzok’s attorney, Aitan Goelman, said the report confirms that Strzok’s “personal opinions never impacted his work as an official of the FBI.”