White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, spoke briefly Thursday about the appointment of U.S. Attorney John Durham, who will investigate the origins of the Russia investigation to determine if the FBI’s “spying” on the Trump campaign in 2016 was adequately predicated. Further, she touched on the upcoming Inspector General report.
This comes after Attorney General said that he believes “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign in 2016 and vowed to review the conduct of the FBI’s original Russia probe.
Last month, Fox News reported that Attorney General William Barr had assembled a “team” to investigate the origins of the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign.
“I am reviewing the conduct of the investigation and trying to get my arms around all the aspects of the counterintelligence investigation that was conducted during the summer of 2016,” Barr said.
Along with Durham investigating, Inspector General Michael Horowitz will be releasing his report within a few weeks that will be focused on FISA abuse.
Horowitz announced his investigation in March 2018 in a statement that said his office was examining the Justice Department’s and FBI’s compliance with legal requirements as well as policies and procedures in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court related to Page as part of a larger counterintelligence probe into President Trump’s campaign, reported Washington Examiner. (Continued Below)
Asked what we can expect from the Inspector General’s report, the press secretary said, “I’m not going to get ahead of the IG’s report, but I think like most Americans, we all want to know why did this start in the first place, and why were they spying on the Trump campaign?”
She continued, “It seems like a gross overreach and we’d like to get some answers. We think the Attorney General is doing a great job and we’re glad that he’s looking at the other side and the origins of where all these things started.”
Sanders added, “It’s a completely insane process that’s taken place and if anything, it looks that if there was ever any crime committed, it was probably at the beginning of why this whole thing began.” (Continued Below)
As reported by Washington Examiner, Horowitz also said he would “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.”
This “alleged FBI confidential source” is British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who authored the unverified dossier on Trump’s ties to Russia that was used by the FBI in the Page warrant applications. Horowitz can recommend that people be prosecuted.
On Wednesday, President Trump praised William Barr for appointing John Durham and exclaimed, “I am so proud of our Attorney General– that he is looking into it. I think it’s great; I did not know about it!” (Video Below)
WATCH:
