Republican lawmakers attempted to spin the findings of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report into the origins of the 2016 Russia investigation as damning for critics of President Trump.
“I just got out of a nearly 2 hour briefing on the IG report,” tweeted Rep. Mark Meadows. “It is deeply disturbing. Some former FBI and DOJ officials are about to have some serious explaining to do.”
The North Carolina congressman also teased “more details to come” from his briefing.
[Read: FISA abuse report by DOJ inspector general is released]
I just got out of a nearly 2 hour briefing on the IG report.
It is deeply disturbing. Some former FBI and DOJ officials are about to have some serious explaining to do.
More details to come shortly.
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) December 9, 2019
Rep. Lee Zeldin, another one of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Congress, highlighted the 17 instances that Horowitz found in which top Justice Department and FBI officials made “significant errors or omissions” during the Carter Page FISA applications.
“The failures in the performance of the Woods Procedures that could have prevented some, but not all, of the errors and omissions we identified,” he quoted from the report.
Horowitz’s IG Report IDs 17 errors and omissions in the Page FISA Applications and describes “the failures in the performance of the Woods Procedures that could have prevented some, but not all, of the errors and omissions we identified.”
*See from Page 363 as well as Appendix I
— Lee Zeldin (@RepLeeZeldin) December 9, 2019
The long-awaited report found that there was no political bias present among top DOJ and FBI officials who started an investigation into allegations of collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump and Attorney General William Barr have claimed that a “deep state” spied on Trump’s campaign and that the Russia investigation was founded on opposition research funded by Democrats.
Following the release of the report on Monday, Barr said Horowtiz made it “clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the
steps taken.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, another top lawmaker who has warned of an anti-Trump “deep state” in the lead up to the 2016 election, said he would hold a press conference about the release of the FISA report at 4 p.m. on Monday.
Will hold a press conference at 4:00 pm in the Senate Radio-TV Gallery on Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on the DOJ and FBI’s conduct during the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant process as it relates to the 2016 election.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2019
