Department of Justice inspector general investigating alleged FISA abuses
The Department of Justice's internal watchdog announced Wednesday that it will review the DOJ and FBI's compliance with the law and their own policies related to applications for secret surveillance warrants made "related to a certain U.S. person," in response to requests from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and members of Congress.
The DOJ did not name the "certain U.S. person," but some Republican members of Congress have asked DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz to look into how the DOJ and FBI obtained warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Page and the procurement of warrants through the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to surveil him were the subjects of a controversial memo from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, which prompted Democrats on the committee to issue their own memo in response. Sessions had already announced the DOJ IG would look into the matter -- the statement from the IG's office makes it official.
Mr. Trump has also railed against the FISA process, but he publicly attacked Sessions for requesting a DOJ IG review, saying it would take too long.
"As part of this examination, the [Office of the Inspector General] also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the DOJ's and FBI's relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications," the DOJ IG said in its release Wednesday. "If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the review."
Some Republicans have alleged the federal government relied too much on a dossier authored by former British spy Christopher Steele in obtaining the warrants for Page.
