Two reviews of Trump-Russia probe to have opposite conclusions: official
testifies
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[December 12, 2019]
By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two separate U.S.
Department of Justice reviews are likely to reach opposite conclusions
about whether the FBI investigation of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign had
sufficient cause to look into any ties with Russia, an official watchdog
told Congress on Wednesday.
The department's Inspector General Michael Horowitz told lawmakers that
he and a U.S. prosecutor conducting a separate review disagreed about a
fundamental question of the politically sensitive inquiry.
In a 434-page report released on Monday, Horowitz concluded that the FBI
had enough evidence in 2016 to open a full counterintelligence
investigation of the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia.
Horowitz said prosecutor John Durham told him last month that he
believed the FBI should have opened a more limited investigation. He
said he was not swayed by Durham's argument.
"None of the discussions changed our findings," Horowitz told a Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing.
Durham's office declined to comment.
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Barr, who was appointed by Republican President Trump, has repeatedly
criticized the FBI's investigation and assigned Durham in May to examine
it, while Horowitz's review was already underway. Democrats have accused
Durham's review of being politically motivated.
Horowitz's review did not find evidence that the FBI had been motivated
by political bias, as Trump and other Republicans have said.
But Horowitz also said the FBI made what he described as "basic and
fundamental errors" that overstated its case as it sought court approval
to wiretap a Trump campaign aide.
Horowitz's testimony indicated that the Justice Department may never
provide a clear answer about the legitimacy of the investigation into
the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia, which ultimately was taken
over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller detailed a Russian
campaign of hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States
and help Trump win.
Mueller documented numerous contacts between Trump campaign figures and
Moscow but found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said he agreed with Horowitz's conclusions
and has taken steps to curb the abuses outlined in the report.
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![](../images/121219pics/news_s39.jpg)
U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies
before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "Examining the Inspector
General's report on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA)" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.,
December 11, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday that Horowitz had been
too "deferential" to the FBI, which he said may have acted in "bad
faith."
Durham said on Monday that he did not agree with Horowitz about how
the case was opened. His review will likely wrap up in the spring or
summer of next year, during the height of Trump's re-election
campaign.
Democrats and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee chose to
emphasize different aspects of Horowitz's report.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the panel's Republican chairman, said the
investigation, even if it had been opened on legitimate grounds,
evolved into a "massive criminal conspiracy."
"People at the highest levels of the government took the law in
their own hands," he said.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, said the report
had knocked down Trump's accusations that a "Deep State" of
bureaucrats had worked to undermine his political prospects.
"Simply put, the FBI investigation was motivated by facts, not
bias," she said.
Horowitz's work on the issue is not done. He said his office is
examining whether FBI agents in New York improperly leaked
information to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani in an effort to pressure
then-FBI Director James Comey to re-open an investigation into
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email use.
"What's proving to be very hard is the substance of the
communications, but we can prove the contacts," Horowitz said.
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Democrats say Comey hurt Clinton's candidacy when he said he was
re-opening the investigation shortly before the election.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; editing by Grant McCool)
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