Former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page condemned Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation on alleged government surveillance abuses ahead of the release of its findings.
Leaks last week about the forthcoming report on the FBI’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to wiretap Page, an American citizen who was suspected to be a Russian asset but was never charged, show the DOJ watchdog found errors were made. Ultimately, there was no abuse of power by top officials due to bias against President Trump.
Page was interviewed Saturday by CNN’s Michael Smerconish, who said the reports indicate “sloppiness” in the Trump-Russia investigation. Page responded by calling Horowitz’s inquiry “sloppy.”
“The keyword that you just said is sloppiness, right? And unfortunately, the way that this inspector general report has been assembled and completed over the last couple of years and particularly over the last few months, is completely sloppy,” Page said. “It’s only one side’s perspective.”
Trump’s closest allies have ramped up expectations of the FISA report for months, predicting it will uncover an effort to monitor and undermine Trump’s 2016 campaign, particularly with how the FBI relied on an unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain the warrants to tap into Page’s devices. During an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump himself said he has heard Horowitz’s report will be “historic” and surmised a “spying” plot against his campaign reached the “highest levels” of government.
The FISA application and three renewals targeting Page required the approval of top members of the FBI, the DOJ, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, but they were also handled by lower-level officials. The initial warrant application was approved in October 2016, and the final renewal came in June 2017.
The reports that emerged last week revealed an FBI lawyer is under criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham for allegedly altering a document related to the wiretapping of Page, but did not taint the overall validity of a renewal application to continue electronically monitoring him. This lawyer was later identified as Kevin Clinesmith, who left the bureau two months ago after being interviewed by Horowitz. But the biggest takeaway, based on sources familiar with a draft of the inspector general’s findings, has been that Horowitz did not determine that political bias affected the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation.
Page urged some caution, saying “we’ll see” if the reports are the complete story. After all, Horowitz revealed his team interviewed 100 witnesses and reviewed more than a million documents as part of his year-and-a-half investigation, and his report is said to be over 500 pages long.
“Most of these people were involved in this coup-kabal from the very beginning. So, it’s been very sloppy all along,” Page said.
Horowitz confirmed Thursday that he expects his final report to be released to the public on Dec. 9 and is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee two days later. The inspector general has predicted minimal redactions after a classification review and a final session for witnesses to provide feedback.
In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Friday, Page claimed he’s had “zero ability” to review the report or provide any feedback or corrections compared to those people he believes are behind the leaks. “It’s a complete disaster,” he said.
