Two Republican senators are renewing their call for a second special counsel to investigate alleged surveillance abuses — even as the Justice Department’s internal watchdog announced earlier Tuesday it will launch a review into the matter.
In a Tuesday letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C, who is also a member of the panel, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office is “initiating a review that will examine” how the Justice Department and FBI applied to a court to obtain a wiretap to surveil a “certain U.S. person”: former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
The IG also made the announcement in a statement earlier Wednesday.
Grassley and Graham, both Republicans, wrote to Horowitz in late February requesting his office investigate “potential improper political influence, misconduct or mismanagement” in the Justice Department and FBI’s investigations into Russia’s ties to the Trump campaign and Trump transition, as well as the administration before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Horowitz told Grassley and Graham that the new review will “address most of the questions.”
However, Horowitz added the review will not address “leak allegations” or “questions regarding possible defensive briefings by the FBI.” An investigation into the prosecution of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn — who has pleaded guilty to charges brought against him by Mueller — is also off the table, Horowitz said.
Because of this, Grassley and Graham say there is even more of a need for a special counsel to assist in his review.
“However, I still believe we need a second special counsel to ensure the investigation is thorough and complete. The American people are rightfully troubled by the information they have heard about politicization in DOJ. All Americans deserve to know if the rules were followed and whether justice was indeed blind,” Graham said in a statement early Wednesday night.
Grassley and Graham were joined by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., earlier this month in calling for the appointment of a special counsel “to work with the Inspector General in reviewing how the Justice Department and FBI handled specific matters related to the Trump-Russia investigation up to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller,” per a press release.
