Latest updates on the inspector general’s hearing
- Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the Justice Department, is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his office’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation.
- On Monday, he concluded that there was no political bias in the launch of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and any Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
- Download the free CBS News app to stream live coverage of the Horowitz hearing.
Washington — The Justice Department’s inspector general is on Capitol Hill to testify before senators about his report on the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in a report published Monday that the FBI was justified and showed no political bias when it launched its investigation, but his team found several deficiencies in how the bureau handled applications to surveil U.S. citizens.
Horowitz is appearing before the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers are questioning him about those procedural errors and the conclusions his office drew about political bias.
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President Trump has accused the FBI of harboring a bias against him. Horowitz’s report was released as Mr. Trump faces the possibility of impeachment by House Democrats. On Tuesday, the House unveiled two articles of impeachment related to the president’s dealings with Ukraine.
The 434-page Horowitz report is based on more than 1 million documents from the Justice Department and the FBI as well as interviews with more than 100 witnesses. Read a summary of its conclusions here.
Motivations behind FISA missteps are “unclear,” says Horowitz
1:53 p.m.: The inspector general acknowledged that he couldn’t pinpoint the motivations behind the “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FISA applications for warrants to surveil Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
Horowitz’s report didn’t find any evidence to support Republicans’ claims that they were due to political bias. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, said that means he can’t conclude that no bias occurred, and Horowitz agreed.
“On the FISA side, we found, as you noted, a lack of documented testimony evidence about intentionality, but we also noted the lack of satisfactory explanations and in fact leave open the fact that, for the reasons you indicated, it’s unclear what the motivations were. On the one hand, gross incompetence, negligence? On the other hand, intentionality? And where in between? We weren’t in a position, with the evidence we had, to make that conclusion, but I’m not ruling it out.” — Kathryn Watson
Democratic Senator Durbin voices concerns about FISA, Rudy Giuliani
1:38 p.m.: Republicans weren’t the only ones to voice concerns over the federal government’s use of the FISA warrants to surveil U.S. citizens. Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, did too.
“I’ve been joining Senator Leahy and Senator Lee for years talking about this FISA court,” Durbin said. “And we now have ample record here, in this case and in a lot of others. 2002, the FISA court identified more than 75 cases in which it was misled by the FBI. Internal FBI review in 2006, dozens of inaccuracies provided to the FISA court. The list goes on and on. So let’s have a fulsome conversation after this about the future of the FISA court and the representations that are made to it.”
The inspector general’s report released this week found a total of 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the warrant applications and found that “the surveillance of Carter Page continued even as the FBI gathered information that weakened the assessment of probable cause.”
Durbin then expressed concerns about President Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who claimed to have information from law enforcement about the Hillary Clinton emails. Durbin asked Horowitz if there are still concerns that Giuliani might be obtaining sensitive information from law enforcement.
“I’m not gonna speak to what we’ve learned or what we know about our ongoing investigations, and I’m not investigating matters related to the ongoing Ukraine issues that I think you’re referencing,” Horowitz responded.
The House moved forward with its effort to impeach Mr. Trump this week over his dealings in Ukraine. — Kathryn Watson
FBI lawyer changed email about Trump campaign aide’s status as CIA source
1:27 p.m.: During the hearing, Senator Lindsey Graham revealed new information regarding an email allegedly altered by an FBI lawyer, identified by Graham as Kevin Clinesmith, who helped prepare a FISA application to surveil Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.
That email, which was written by the CIA, stated that Page was a source for the CIA, which was true. But Graham said it had been altered by FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith to say the opposite — that he was not a source.
Horowitz testified that the FBI lawyer “altered it to insert the words ‘and not a source’ into the email.” Asked by Graham whether this “made it look like the CIA denied knowing” Page, Horowitz responded that “it flatly stated that he (Page) was not a source.”
Graham suggested this information — had it not been kept from the FISA court that granted the Page warrant — might have provided a reason to the court to stop surveillance of Page.
When asked by Graham why Clinesmith changed the email, Horowitz said, “It is unknown as to precisely why he did it.”
Horowitz, in his report, did not disclose Clinesmith’s name, nor does the report say that it was a CIA liaison whose email to the FBI had been altered. The report simply refers to the CIA as a “U.S. government agency” and notes that the liaison from the agency “reconfirmed the information that the other agency had provided to the FBI in August 2016 that Page did have a prior relationship with that other agency.” — Catherine Herridge
Democrat points out pro-Trump texts from FBI agents
12:10 p.m.: Republicans repeatedly point to anti-Trump texts from Lisa Page and Peter Strzok to support their belief that the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign was launched with political motivations.
But during his time at the hearing, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy pointed out that the inspector general’s report also includes pro-Trump texts from FBI agents involved in the probe.
No agents should be expressing political views on their government devices, said Horowitz, but he reiterated that there’s no evidence those political views influenced the FBI’s investigation. — Kathryn Watson
Horowitz “surprised” by U.S. attorney’s criticism of his report
12:05 p.m.: The inspector general said he was “surprised” that U.S. Attorney John Durham criticized the FBI’s work.
Durham is leading an ongoing criminal probe into the origins of the Russia investigation. Unlike Horowitz, he has the power to subpoena witnesses and documents and call a grand jury.
Horowitz said Durham had previously told him he thought there was sufficient evidence to open a preliminary investigation, but perhaps not a full investigation, into the Trump campaign. Then after Horowitz released his report, Durham said he “advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”
Answering questions from the top Democrat on the committee, Horowitz also reiterated that there were no spies embedded in the Trump campaign — a claim that has been made by Attorney General William Barr. — Kathryn Watson
Horowitz says his findings “don’t vindicate anybody who touched this FISA”
11:38 a.m.: Earlier this week, former FBI Director James Comey, who was accused of launching a politically biased investigation and later fired by President Trump, said the inspector general’s findings vindicate him.
But, when asked by Senator Lindsey Graham if he agrees, Michael Horowitz said, “I think the activities we found here don’t indicate anybody who touched this FISA.”
Horowitz’s team found a total of 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the surveillance warrant applications and found that “the surveillance of Carter Page continued even as the FBI gathered information that weakened the assessment of probable cause.”
During his testimony, the inspector general said he can’t rule out political bias as a motivation for the mishandling of the FISA warrants for the former Trump campaign aide — even though his investigation found no evidence of political influence. — Kathryn Watson
It’s “extraordinary” the attorney general is attacking his own agency, says top Democrat
11:15 a.m.: Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, strongly criticized Attorney General William Barr for bashing the FBI, an agency he is meant to defend.
Barr has called the FBI’s investigation “completely baseless.”
Feinstein, however, pointed to the thorough work of the Justice Department’s inspector general, whose report found no evidence of political or anti-Trump bias and concluded that the FBI was justified in opening investigations into the Trump campaign.
Michael Horowitz and his team, she noted, interviewed more than 100 witnesses and reviewed more than 1 million documents.
“It’s really extraordinary that the attorney general continues to make unsupported attacks on the agency that he is responsible for leading,” Feinstein said. “I believe strongly that it’s time to move on from the false claims of political bias. And those who showed great interest in the question of politically motivated investigations against President Trump should show the same concern about politically motivated investigations requested by the president or his attorney general.” — Kathryn Watson
Graham says Trump campaign national security team was “picked up off the street”
10:33 a.m.: In attempting to defend the president’s campaign, Graham declared the Trump campaign’s national security team — including George Papadopoulos and Carter Page — was “literally picked up off the street.”
“This poor guy Papadopoulos, picked by Sam Clovis, to be part of Trump’s national security team. This national security team was literally picked up off the street. If you’ve had a photo with Donald Trump, you’ve spent more time with Donald Trump than Papadopoulos and Page,” he said.
“They’re not paid, they’re volunteers. But the FBI thinks we need to watch these guys, well Manafort as well as — who’s the other one — Flynn, General Flynn. So they open up a counterintelligence investigation,” Graham continued. — Kathryn Watson
Graham says he’s “dying” to hear from Horowitz but criticizes FBI first
10:07 a.m.: Graham, the committee’s chairman and one of the president’s staunchest defenders, opened up the hearing by saying he’s “dying” to hear from the inspector general, but wanted to make a lengthy opening statement.
The South Carolina Republican said anyone whose takeaway from the report is that the FBI’s investigation was lawfully predicated, they haven’t read the report.
Graham declared FBI agents “biased,” and questioned whether these individuals are “the best of the best.”
Graham lamented that the president wasn’t informed about investigators’ concerns about Page.
“Why didn’t they tell Trump? We’ll figure that out later. But I think it’s a question that needs to be asked,” Graham said. He suggested the investigation became a massive conspiracy, with federal agents attempting to undermine the Trump campaign. — Kathryn Watson
Horowitz highlights “significant concerns” in opening statement
9:51 a.m.: Horowitz highlights key findings from his report in his prepared opening statement. His testimony hones in on procedural mistakes made by the FBI in procuring the authority to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, even as the watchdog found no evidence of political bias in the FBI’s work.
“[O]ur review identified significant concerns with how certain aspects of the investigation were conducted and supervised, particularly the FBI’s failure to adhere to its own standards of accuracy and completeness when filing applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authority to surveil Carter Page, a U.S. person who was connected to the Donald J. Trump for President Campaign,” the inspector general writes. “We also identified what we believe is an absence of sufficient policies to ensure appropriate Department oversight of significant investigative decisions that could affect constitutionally protected activity.”
Horowitz goes on to say he is “deeply concerned that so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate, hand-picked investigative teams; on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations; after the matter had been briefed to the highest levels within the FBI; even though the information sought through use of FISA authority related so closely to an ongoing presidential campaign; and even though those involved with the investigation knew that their actions were likely to be subjected to close scrutiny.” — Kathryn Watson
Judiciary Committee includes 2 Democrats running for president
9:36 a.m.: The hearing will including questioning from two Democratic presidential candidates. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker are both members of the Judiciary Committee. Senator Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the race last week, also sits on the panel. — Stefan Becket
Lindsey Graham: “Everyone involved in this investigation hated Donald Trump”
8:30 a.m.: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham told CBS News’ Catherine Herridge that he believes the FBI’s Russia investigation crossed the line and sets a bad precedent.
“Here’s what I don’t understand about Horowitz: I think he’s a patriot, I think he did a hell of a job here, but when he says that there’s no evidence of political bias or political motive — everybody involved in this investigation hated Donald Trump,” Graham said. He added, “They wanted to bring down this president. I really believe that.”
Asked whether he planned to press Horowitz on this point, Graham replied, “One it doesn’t matter why they did it. I want people to understand that the cops can’t cheat. The cops can’t lie. They have to play by the rules. Even if you don’t like Trump you should like the rules because it could be you next time, not Trump.”
How to watch Michael Horowitz’s Senate testimony
Major conclusions from the IG report on Russia and Trump investigation
6:00 a.m.: The Justice Department IG’s report weighed in on several issues related to the launch of the FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia:
Political bias
“We did not find any documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI’s decision to conduct these operations.”
FBI employees’ political leanings
A June 2018 Justice Department inspector general report uncovered derogatory messages about Mr. Trump exchanged by FBI employees, but Horowitz also found text messages exchanged by FBI officials that reflect support for then-candidate Trump.
FBI ties to Trump campaign
Mr. Trump has accused the FBI of spying on his 2016 campaign.
While the FBI had “several” confidential sources with “either a connection to candidate Trump or a role in the Trump campaign,” Horowitz did not find evidence that the informants “ever reported any information collected from a meeting with Trump or a Trump campaign event.”
Surveillance warrants
The report examined the procedures for obtaining and renewing a surveillance warrant for Carter Page, a Trump campaign aide.
Horowitz’s team found a total of 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the surveillance warrant applications and found that “the surveillance of Carter Page continued even as the FBI gathered information that weakened the assessment of probable cause and made the FISA applications less accurate.”
While Horowitz’s team “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct,” they also “did not receive satisfactory explanations for the errors or missing information.”
The report urges the FBI to “review the performance of all employees who had responsibility for the preparation, Woods review, or approval of the FISA application,” including “managers, supervisors and senior officials in the chain of command of the Carter Page investigation.”
The Steele dossier
Horowitz probed the use of the so-called Steele dossier as justification for Page’s surveillance.
In September 2016, the FBI received reporting from former British spy Christopher Steele that FBI officials told Horowitz “‘pushed [the FISA proposal] over the line’ in terms of establishing probable cause.”
Steele was hired around June 2016 by Fusion GPS, a Washington-based investigative firm, to determine whether then-candidate Trump had any personal or business ties to Russia, as well as whether there were ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.
Because Fusion GPS had been retained by a law firm representing the Democratic National Committee, there were claims that his work was “opposition research” that was biased against Mr. Trump. But Steele said he initially didn’t know about Fusion’s ties to Democrats. And if he was politically biased in any direction, he said he was more likely to be “favorably disposed” toward the Trump family before beginning his research because he had “been friendly” with a member of the Trump family for several years.
Read more here.
Barr slams FBI and calls Russia investigation “completely baseless”
5:33 a.m.: After the release of the Justice Department watchdog’s report, which concluded that the FBI made procedural errors related to the applications for surveillance warrants, Attorney General William Barr blasted the federal agency and reiterated his criticism of the Russia investigation.
“I think that there were gross abuses of FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] and inexplicable behavior that is intolerable in the FBI,” he told NBC News Tuesday in his first interview since the report’s release.
The inspector general determined that the FBI had justified reasons for opening an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign’s ties to the foreign country. Still, Barr called the investigation, which resulted in what has been come to known as the Mueller report, “completely baseless.”
“I think our nation was turned on its head for three years based on a completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by an irresponsible press,” he said.
Barr, however, claimed that he’s waiting for the conclusion of a criminal investigation being led by U.S. Attorney John Durham to determine whether the FBI had “improper motive” to investigate the Trump campaign.
Barr’s comments quickly drew criticism from Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“With this revisionist campaign to undermine a thorough, two-year IG investigation, the Attorney General is once again substituting partisan rhetoric for politically inconvenient facts,” Warner tweeted.
Read more here.
After IG report, Trump says FBI is “badly broken”
5:01 a.m.: President Trump told reporters that “the details of the [Horowitz] report are far worse than anything I would have imagined.” He said he’s looking forward to the release of Durham’s report, “which is this information plus plus plus.”
He also condemned the FBI director’s reaction to the report.
“I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken,” Mr. Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
He also tweeted quotes from Fox News hosts about how the report had found “serious performance failures” on the part of the FBI.
But in an interview with ABC News, Wray said that it was “important that the inspector general found that, in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization.”
Read more here.
