The top Republican on the House Oversight Committee is turning up the heat on FBI Director Christopher Wray to answer for persistent flaws in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process.
Rep. Jim Jordan sent a letter to DOJ Inspector General Horowitz on Friday, zeroing in on widespread issues found in the preliminary results of a March FISA audit. The Ohio Republican noted “the FBI was unable to locate the Woods files for four additional files that the OIG had requested — meaning the OIG could not review those applications.”
His letter, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, reveals that as of April 21, the DOJ watchdog reported, “The FBI had not yet located or followed-up on these four missing Woods files.”
Horowitz’s preliminary audit focused narrowly on the bureau’s requirement to create and maintain an accuracy subfile, known as a “Woods File,” to ensure that factual assertions in FISA applications are backed up by demonstrable evidence. FBI policy requires the Woods File to contain supporting documentation for every factual assertion in a FISA application.
Investigators found serious problems in each of the 29 FISA applications they examined — including four FISA applications where the Woods File was missing or never existed. This compounded concerns raised by a lengthy report released by Horowitz in December, which criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page, after which the bureau pledged to take dozens of corrective actions.
“We write to ask that the OIG seek additional information from the FBI about its FISA applications targeting U.S. Persons,” Jordan said, adding, “As Congress continues to consider reauthorization of — and reforms to — FISA, we would benefit from a thorough OIG examination of the FBI’s adherence to Woods Procedures in FISA.”
Jordan asked that Horowitz “seek a progress report” from the FBI by May 15 on a series of topics, including “changes, if any, that the FBI has made to its Woods Procedures directly as a result of” the watchdog’s late March memo; “the steps, if any, that the FBI has undertaken to locate the four missing Woods files”; “a detailed explanation from the FBI for why it is unable to locate the Woods files” if it cannot do so; and “details about how, if at all, the FBI used information collected from the 29 FISA applications in non-FISA contexts, including but not limited to criminal indictments, sentencing memoranda, and non-FISA search warrants.”
The congressman also asked Horowitz for “an estimated timeframe” for finishing the various phases of his ongoing FISA audit.
The letter was sent at a time when there is growing discontent among Republicans about Wray’s handling of matters related to the Trump-Russia investigation, including the FISA process and the case against retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
A senior Republican official with direct knowledge of Jordan’s letter told the Washington Examiner that “Director Wray continues to drag his feet when it comes to fixing FISA. If his office can’t even find a Woods file, how can we be sure that what happened to Michael Flynn never happens again?”
Upon releasing the findings of his preliminary audit in March, Horowitz said, “We believe that a deficiency in the FBI’s efforts to support the factual statements in FISA applications through its Woods Procedures undermines the FBI’s ability to achieve its ‘scrupulously accurate’ standard for FISA applications.”
The FISA court, which oversees requests for surveillance warrants, responded to the audit by ordering the Justice Department to provide the court with “the names of the targets” for all 29 applications.
Neither the FBI nor DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General immediately returned the Washington Examiner’s request for comment about the ongoing FISA audit.
Jordan sent a letter to Wray on Monday, in which the congressman said what he found “even more concerning” than the newly revealed details about the Flynn case was that “we continue to learn these new details from litigation and investigations — not from you.” He further stated, “It is well past time that you show the leadership necessary to bring the FBI past the abuses of the Obama-Biden era.”
FBI records released on Thursday have been touted by Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, as exculpatory evidence heretofore concealed from the defense team, including new revelations about the actions taken by now-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok, then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, former FBI Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division Bill Priestap, and others.
The FBI fought back against criticism leveled by Republicans who contend Wray botched the handling of the case against Flynn.
Brian Hale, the FBI’s assistant director for the Office of Public Affairs, released a statement which said Wray “has fully cooperated and been transparent with” U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen, appointed by Attorney General William Barr earlier this year to review the Flynn case. The FBI spokesman said Wray has also worked closely with Horowitz as well as with U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was handpicked by Barr to lead an investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators.
Wray’s spokesperson pointed the finger at the FBI’s prior leadership, likely referring to fired FBI Director James Comey and FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
“Director Wray remains firmly committed to addressing the failures under prior FBI leadership while maintaining the foundational principles of rigor, objectivity, accountability, and ownership in fulfilling the Bureau’s mission to protect the American people and defend the Constitution,” Hale said.
A lengthy report released by Horowitz in December criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 and for the bureau’s reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier. Steele put his research together at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.
