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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 10 december 2019
Watchdog report: FBI’s Russia probe justified, no bias found

Continued from Front eratives, were released by
WikiLeaks in the weeks be-
It rejects theories and criti- fore the election in what
cism spread by Trump and U.S. officials have said was
his supporters while also an effort to harm Clinton’s
finding errors and misjudg- campaign and help Trump.
ments likely to be exploited The report said the FBI was
by Republican allies as the authorized to open the
president faces a probable investigation to protect
impeachment vote this against a national secu-
month. rity threat. Months later, the
Trump, in remarks at the FBI sought and received
White House shortly af- the Page warrant. Offi-
ter the report’s release, cials were concerned that
claimed that the report Page was being targeted
showed “an attempted for recruitment by the Rus-
overthrow and a lot of peo- sian government, though
ple were in on it.” he has denied wrongdo-
The president has repeat- ing and has never been
edly said he was more ea- charged with a crime.
ger for the report of John The inspector general also
Durham, the hand-picked found that an FBI lawyer is
prosecutor selected by At- President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable on school choice in the Cabinet Room of the suspected of altering an
torney General William Barr White House, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, in Washington. Associated Press email to make it appear as
to conduct a separate re- if an official at another gov-
view of the Russia probe. were insufficient to justify tor general found problems sition research from a for- ernment agency had said
Barr rejected the inspector the steps taken,” Barr said that are “unacceptable mer British spy, Christopher Page was not a source for
general’s conclusion that in a statement. His remarks and unrepresentative of Steele, whose work was that agency, even though
there was sufficient evi- were an unusual twist in who we are as an institu- financed by Democrats he was.
dence to open the investi- that the attorney general tion.” But he also noted and the Clinton campaign, Agents were concerned
gation. typically does not take is- that political bias did not and that fact was not dis- that if Page had worked
“The Inspector General’s sue with an internal investi- taint the opening of the closed to the judges who as a source for another
report now makes clear gation that clears a Justice investigation, or the steps approved the warrant. government agency, they
that the FBI launched an Department agency of se- that followed. He said the The watchdog found that would’ve needed to tell the
intrusive investigation of rious misconduct. FBI is implementing more the FBI had overstated the surveillance court about
a U.S. presidential cam- In an interview with The As- than 40 corrective actions. significance of Steele’s that, the report said, and
paign on the thinnest of sociated Press, FBI Director Durham, in a brief state- past work as an informant, tasked the lawyer with con-
suspicions that, in my view, Chris Wray said the inspec- ment, said he has informed omitted information about tacting the other agency
the inspector general that one of Steele’s sources who to obtain additional infor-
he also doesn’t agree with Steele had called a “boast- mation. But the lawyer “did
the conclusion that the in- er” and who Steele said the not accurately convey,
quiry was properly opened, source “may engage in and in fact altered, the in-
and suggested his own in- some embellishment.” formation he received from
vestigation would back up The report’s release, com- the other agency,” the re-
that assertion. ing the same day as a port said.
The inspector general iden- House Judiciary Commit- The lawyer is not identified
tified 17 “significant inaccu- tee impeachment hear- by name in the report but
racies or omissions” in appli- ing centered on the presi- people familiar with the sit-
cations for a warrant from dent’s interactions with uation have identified him
the secretive Foreign Intel- Ukraine, brought fresh at- as Kevin Clinesmith. The
ligence Surveillance Court tention to the legal and inspector general’s report
to monitor the communica- political investigations that says officials notified the at-
tions of former Trump cam- have entangled the White torney general and FBI di-
paign adviser Carter Page House from the moment rector and provided them
and subsequent warrant Trump took office. with information about the
renewals. The errors, the The FBI’s Russia investiga- altered email.
watchdog said, resulted in tion, which was ultimate- The inspector general
“applications that made it ly taken over by special conducted more than
appear that the informa- counsel Robert Mueller, 170 interviews involving
tion supporting probable began in July 2016 after more than 100 witnesses,
cause was stronger than the FBI learned that a for- including former FBI direc-
was actually the case.” mer Trump campaign aide, tor James Comey, former
But the report also found George Papadopoulos, Attorney General Loretta
the bureau was justified in had been saying before Lynch, former Deputy At-
eavesdropping on Page it was publicly known that torney General Sally Yates,
and that there was not Russia had dirt on Demo- former Deputy Attorney
documented or testimonial cratic opponent Hillary General Rod Rosenstein,
evidence of any political Clinton in the form of stolen who oversaw the Russia in-
bias. emails. Those emails, which vestigation, and former FBI
Republicans have long crit- were hacked from Demo- Deputy Director Andrew
icized the process since the cratic email accounts by McCabe, along with FBI
FBI relied in part on oppo- Russian intelligence op- agents and analysts.q