Trey Gowdy grappled with Fox News host Sean Hannity about whether the Justice Department inspector general’s investigation into alleged government surveillance abuses will result in indictments.
Gowdy, a former congressman and federal prosecutor, has been tamping down expectations for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application report, the first draft of which was submitted to Attorney General William Barr for a classification review on Friday.
In an interview Friday, Hannity prompted Gowdy to react to his belief that the FBI was involved in “premeditated fraud” by knowingly misleading the FISA Court in using British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier to obtain warrants to surveil onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page from late 2016 to 2017.
Striking a cautious note, Gowdy explained how prosecutors would need to find an appropriate criminal statute if their objective is an indictment. “Let’s assume that I didn’t tell the court something. The remedy for me is not indictment. The remedy is I may lose my law license. The remedy is the court may hold me in contempt,” Gowdy said.
Hannity, as well as some of Gowdy’s former GOP colleagues in Congress, have raised expectations for DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report and the Justice Department review of the origins of the Russia investigation. GOP North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, for instance, said last week, “If people do not go to jail, and this is all about just talking and rhetoric and people are not held accountable, the American people will be disillusioned and say, ‘Enough is enough.'”
Also last week the Justice Department rejected former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s appeal to avoid criminal charges for repeatedly lacking candor with federal agents, paving the way for a formal indictment. GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that McCabe, who was fired last year, would be indicted.
Gowdy, in warning his GOP friends they may be disappointed, has stated that indictments should not be the only standard by which U.S. officials should be held accountable.
The FISA filings required approval from top members of the FBI and Justice Department, and targets of Horowitz’s inquiry likely include the approvers of the four applications and renewals: former FBI Director James Comey; former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates; McCabe; former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; former FBI General Counsel James Baker; and Baker’s successor, Dana Boente, the only signatory still in active government service.
Hannity challenged Gowdy, asking the former congressman if, hypothetically, Hannity himself “committed a fraud in the court consciously for the purpose of achieving a political agenda,” why he thinks jail time would be inevitable.
“Well, it depends, if you’re a lawyer, you would lose your law license. And the court can hold you in contempt. Remember …” Gowdy said before Hannity interrupted.
“If you lie before a judge? We’re talking about lying before a judge,” Hannity said.
“You’ll be held in contempt of court, absolutely,” Gowdy said. “And you can go to jail for that. I don’t know that lawyers who make factual misrepresentations in front of judges wind up getting indicted. You’re going to get punished. You’re going be held in contempt. You may be get sent to prison.”
Toward the end of the interview, the pair got increasingly terse with one another.
When Hannity noted the FBI may have denied Page, an American citizen, his constitutional rights, it elicited an “Aha!” from Gowdy. He said Hannity may have identified an applicable statute. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” Gowdy said.
Hannity shot back that he could send Gowdy a “list” from Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett showing a “whole variety of crimes perpetrating a fraud on the court.”
“Don’t send it to me, send it to Bill Barr,” Gowdy exclaimed. “Nothing I can do about it right now …”
“Okay … Do you have his email?” Hannity interjected while shrugging. “Because I don’t have his e-mail. I don’t know Bill Barr. But I’d be glad to. I think Bill Barr is probably very aware of what the applicable statutes would be.”
The interview ended abruptly, with Hannity saying, “Trey Gowdy, good to see you.”
