Fox News host Sean Hannity reacted to new developments about the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation into alleged abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by listing several former officials he believes are in trouble.
Opening his show Tuesday, Hannity said the inquiry, which appears to have been extended in the 11th hour, “is going to get very interesting.”
“A crucial development in the IG’s investigation into FISA abuse,” Hannity said in his monologue. “That would be [former FBI Director] James Comey, [former Deputy Attorney General] Sally Yates, [former FBI Deputy Director] Andrew McCabe, and, yeah, even [former Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein should be very worried tonight.”
Two major stories explaining why DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation has been delayed broke on Tuesday. One came from reports that Horowitz’s team conducted a two-day interview with British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who authored the unsubstantiated and salacious dossier attacking President Trump, and the investigators found Steele’s information credible enough to warrant extending their investigation.
The second development was the revelation of a letter Horowitz sent to Congress last month that said the DOJ watchdog has “received and reviewed over one million records” and has “conducted over 100 interviews, including current and former DOJ and FBI personnel” during its inquiry. Horowitz also said his team has “made substantial progress towards completing the review” and that he would provide another update about the timeline for the release of the final report “in the coming weeks.”
On his show, Hannity named possible targets of the DOJ inspector general’s inquiry, the approvers and signers of the four FISA warrant applications and renewals from October 2016 through June 2017, against onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The applications relied heavily on the unverified dossier compiled by Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS. The opposition research firm was hired by Marc Elias of the Perkins Coie law firm at the behest of the Clinton presidential campaign.
Looking ahead to next week’s public hearing with former special counsel Robert Mueller, Hannity said a “great question” for lawmakers to ask is whether Mueller’s team relied on the dossier.
There has been building anticipation, especially among Trump allies, for the release of Horowitz’s report, as they believe there was an underhanded effort by DOJ and FBI officials to undermine the president. This eagerness is due in part to Attorney General William Barr predicting earlier this year that Horowitz’s probe would wrap up in May or June.
Hannity himself has repeatedly cited sources over the past couple months to say the IG investigation was over and was “extraordinarily damning.”
Democrats have dismissed the GOP’s excitement about Horowitz’s inquiry and Steele’s role in it as “whataboutism” run amok.
The latest developments come a week after House Judiciary Committee member John Ratcliffe of Texas said that he had met with Horowitz in late June and the inspector general had said his investigation had concluded. They also follow a Fox News report that said at least one key witness who is not part of the DOJ or FBI came forward only after Barr tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut to lead a review of the origins of the Russia investigation. It now appears Steele was the subject of this “breakthrough.”
The DOJ’s review of the early stages of the Russia investigation is not a criminal inquiry, but should Durham find criminal activity, he can take prosecutorial action.
