House Democrats said the inspector general’s report on the origins of the Russia investigation shows the investigation was legitimate and “was not politically motivated.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, and Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, both from New York, said the IG report showed Trump’s 2016 campaign supports their view that President Trump was aware of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and that it would help the future president win.
The president and other critics of the Russia investigation, which led to a two-year investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, contend the intelligence community lacked the proper evidence to begin spying on the Trump campaign.
[Read more: DOJ inspector general finds 17 ‘significant errors or omissions’ in Carter Page FISA applications]
The report found mistakes but did not cite political motivation.
“The IG’s report shows that the investigation special counsel Mueller took over was not politically motivated and that officials acted appropriately in opening the investigation,” Nadler and Maloney said in a statement. “While the IG identified some problems with the FISA applications by lower-level individuals, the IG ‘did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct.’ The report affirms that DOJ and FBI had an authorized purpose to conduct temporary surveillance as part of the investigation.”
Democrats are now moving to impeach Trump over his efforts to get help from Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democrats.
“The report issued today by the Inspector General debunks the conspiracy theories about the Mueller report and the Russia investigation that President Trump and Republicans in Congress have pushed for years,” Nadler and Maloney said.
“Those discredited conspiracy theories were attempts to deflect from the president’s serious and ongoing misconduct, first urging Russia and now extorting Ukraine into interfering with our elections to benefit himself personally and politically. “
