Two top Republican lawmakers divulged hints about what they expect from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses by the Justice Department and the FBI.
Both Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Devin Nunes discussed the investigation into how the FBI obtained warrants used to electronically surveil onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in back-to-back interviews on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told anchor Maria Bartiromo when he expects to receive the report. “I think it probably will be around October,” the South Carolina Republican said.
It was the clearest indication yet as to when the public may get a first glimpse of the report. Republicans have expressed high expectations for former Justice Department and FBI officials to be held accountable for possible misconduct ever since Horowitz informed Congress on Sept. 13 that his team is in the “process of finalizing our report by providing a draft of our factual findings to the Department and FBI for classification determination and marking.”
Graham said his “No. 1 goal” is to have as much of the report declassified as possible due to GOP concerns that top Justice Department and FBI officials misled the FISA Court by using an unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain spy warrants.
Graham also said he “absolutely” will call Horowitz before his panel to testify, as well as other people, once the report is out. The Senate Judiciary chairman has pledged to do a “deep dive” of his own into FISA, which will run concurrently with U.S. Attorney John Durham’s review of the early stages of the Russia investigation.
At the tail end of their FISA discussion, Bartiromo said people she has spoken to suggest the CIA might be the “architect of this.” Before she could even finish, Graham cut in to say, “Stay tuned.”
In the very next interview, Nunes dropped another hint about the report. “I hear that it is very lengthy,” the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said.
The California Republican additionally echoed what Graham has said about the FISA Court taking “corrective action,” saying it “needs to step in and hold some of these lawyers in contempt” and warned that the American people will not have full trust in the U.S. intelligence community “until someone is put in jail.”
Horowitz is no stranger to long reports. For example, his review of the Justice Department and FBI’s work during the “Midyear Exam” investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server was 568 pages.
In his letter to Congress less than two weeks ago, Horowitz said he instructed his team to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations of FISA abuse. “Consistent with this guidance, the team has reviewed over one million records and conducted over 100 interviews, including several of witnesses who only recently agreed to be interviewed,” the inspector general said.
