The Justice Department watchdog refused to agree with Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s assertion that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants obtained against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page had gleaned any useful information for investigators.
Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to testify about his report regarding the Trump-Russia investigation.
Noting the FISA warrant against Page was renewed three different times from October 2016 to June 2017, Blumenthal said this indicated the FBI was gaining helpful investigative evidence through the surveillance and asked Horowitz if he thought that was correct.
Horowitz said he was “not sure that’s entirely correct,” adding, “I don’t know how much I can say about that in this setting.”
Blumenthal countered that “they were producing information,” but Horowitz noted he was not sure how he would characterize whether that information was “helpful” or not.
“One way or the other, far from a bogus narrative,” the Connecticut Democrat said about the Russia investigation, before calling for a bipartisan approach to reforming the FISA process.
Horowitz’s report, which was released on Monday, found key information was not shared with DOJ leadership and the FISA court as a result of the flaws in the FISA process.
Page, an American businessman, came under electronic surveillance because of the FBI’s suspicion that he could be a Russian asset. Page has denied being an agent for Moscow and was never charged with a crime as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which enveloped the FBI’s counterintelligence inquiry.
Mueller concluded the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election through cyberattacks and social media disinformation campaigns but did not establish any criminal conspiracy between the Kremlin and anyone associated with the Trump campaign. None of the convictions stemming from Mueller’s inquiry related to collusion with the Russians.
Attorney General William Barr, who is overseeing U.S. Attorney John Durham’s criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation, expressed concerns about the FBI’s conduct during an interview on Tuesday.
“I think our nation was turned on its head for three years. I think, based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press. And I think that there were gross abuses of FISA. And inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI,” he said.
