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Oct 24, 2019 Citing string of classified leaks, Grassley & Johnson call for public accountability WASHINGTON - The Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) is again refusing to provide any assurances that a steady stream of sensitive and classified leaks from the nation's intelligence personnel are being investigated. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are voicing concern that the ICIG's failure to assure the public of any efforts to investigate the leaks will further erode public trust in critical intelligence agencies. In a letter to ICIG Michael Atkinson,...

Top Republicans on Wednesday demanded that Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) Michael Atkinson explain why the watchdog hasn't said if it's investigating "a number of leaks of highly sensitive information" in recent years -- and released several previously unpublished texts and emails from since-fired FBI agent Peter Strzok. The Republicans' letter came as reports emerged that U.S. Attorney John Durham's comprehensive, ongoing probe into potential FBI and DOJ misconduct has transitioned into a full-fledged criminal investigation, enabling Durham to subpoena witnesses and file charges. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz also announced on Thursday that his separate comprehensive review...

U.S. Attorney John Durham's investigation into the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe has expanded based on new evidence uncovered during a recent trip to Rome with Attorney General Bill Barr, sources told Fox News on Tuesday. The sources said Durham was "very interested" to question former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, an anti-Trump critic who recently dismissed the idea. The two Obama administration officials were at the helm when the unverified and largely discredited Steele dossier, written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic...

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, President Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal even months after the special counsel closed it. Now, Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into how it all began. Justice Department officials have shifted an administrative review of the Russia investigation closely overseen by Attorney General William P. Barr to a criminal inquiry, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move gives the prosecutor running it, John H. Durham, the power to subpoena for witness testimony and documents, to impanel a...

Rep. Matt Gaetz slammed closed-door impeachment hearings with “no rules” that are being run by House Democrats acting like an “angry pack of rabid hyenas.” The Florida Republican unloaded his frustration to Fox News host Tucker Carlson Wednesday, defending dozens of his GOP colleagues who stormed a secret hearing by House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees in protest of the way Chairman Adam Schiff has been conducting the proceedings. “What was the purpose?” Carlson asked the lawmaker on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” referring to his leading members of the Freedom Caucus and other Republicans in storming the classified Sensitive Compartmented...

The Justice Department inspector general’s report on possible FBI abuse of the foreign surveillance process is “lengthy,” and is likely to be made public with “few” redactions, the inspector general told lawmakers Thursday, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, informed Republicans and Democrats on four congressional committees with a status update on the report, which will detail an investigation into whether the FBI complied with laws and policies in applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. (RELATED: The FISA Abuse Report Is Coming...

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley expressed frustration Monday at a months long delay in the release of the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on possible FBI surveillance abuse against the Trump campaign, questioning whether the “deep state” has somehow slowed the release of the document. “All of the delays and excuses why the Horowitz IG FISA report isn’t public yet after several months of anticipation of its issues leads me to the suspicion it’s going to be ‘deep six’ by the deep state,” Grassley wrote on Twitter. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, began in March 2018 investigating whether the FBI...

Former FBI deputy director and CNN contributor Andrew McCabe slammed the Department of Justice's ongoing criminal probe into his conduct in office and insisted that he would not take a plea deal if he is prosecuted. Appearing on "Cuomo Prime Time," McCabe blasted the investigation conducted by DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz, saying he "absolutely" rejects his findings and conclusions. "I never intentionally misled anyone about anything and I certainly have not committed a crime," McCabe told CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday night. "I was asked questions on two separate occasions about an article that had appeared months before...

More than two and a half years after President Donald Trump assumed office, focus on actions taken during the 2016 presidential campaign is starting to shift toward the CIA and its former director, John Brennan. While some observers, including this publication, have pointed out for more than a year that Brennan appears to have played a key role in the scandal that’s become known as Spygate, actions taken by Brennan and the CIA now appear to have become a central focus of investigators. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector...

So, how many heads are going to roll in September? Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz is supposed to release his long-awaited report on Obama-era FISA abuses.

Attorney General William Barr announced the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide after he was found dead in his prison cell on Saturday. The announcement comes as the FBI confirms its inquiry already underway.But the FBI declined to comment on its impending investigation.

Whooo doggies, Maria Bartiromo outdid herself this morning with an interview segment just packed with information, insight and discussion into the DOJ and FBI corruption and DNI Ratcliffe’s nomination. (h/t Michael Sheridan) This is a MUST WATCH: After the first segment on the El Paso and Dayton shootings, Ms. Bartiromo segued into a discussion of George Papadopoulos and the secret informant transcripts; from recordings that were part of the FBI sting operation using U.S. intelligence asset Stefan Halper; and are now being held in evidence by U.S. Attorney John Durham and Inspector General Michael Horowitz. [Background] Keep in mind Gowdy...

The Justice Department’s chief watchdog is preparing a damning report on James Comey’s conduct in his final days as FBI director that likely will conclude he leaked classified information and showed a lack of candor after his own agency began looking into his feud with President Trump over the Russia probe. Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz’s team referred Comey for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws, but Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors working for Attorney General William Barr reportedly have decided to decline prosecution — a decision that’s likely to upset Comey's conservative critics. Prosecutors found the IG’s...

Paul Sperry has an interesting article today citing anonymous sources in/around the Inspector General Michael Horowitz investigation. Much of the information within the report is confirmation of prior research. However, the citations of FBI James Comey implanting an FBI operative into the White House is very specific: At the same time Comey was personally scrutinizing the president during meetings in the White House and phone conversations from the FBI, he had an agent inside the White House working on the Russia investigation, where he reported back to FBI headquarters about Trump and his aides, according to officials familiar with the...

RealClearInvestigations that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz will soon file a report with evidence indicating that Comey was misleading the president. Even as he repeatedly assured Trump that he was not a target, the former director was secretly trying to build a conspiracy case against the president, while at times acting as an investigative agent. Two U.S. officials briefed on the inspector general’s investigation of possible FBI misconduct said Comey was essentially “running a covert operation against” the president, starting with a private “defensive briefing” he gave Trump just weeks before his inauguration. They said Horowitz has examined high-level...

At the Daily Wire, Ryan Saavedra postulates a breakthrough in DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into alleged FISA abuse against the Trump campaign. Saavedra reports that “at least one witness has started to cooperate in the investigation.” Fox News also reports that an Obama administration official has flipped. Saavedra suggests that the official most likely to be cooperating with Horowitz’s investigation (which in turn, as I understand it, is collaborating with the Durham probe that was ordered by Attorney General William Barr) is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec. If Kavalec has indeed flipped, how significant is it?...

Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe said Monday that the Justice Department inspector general has finished his investigation into whether the FBI abused the surveillance court system during its investigation of the Trump campaign. In an interview on Fox News, Ratcliffe said that he met in June with the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, to discuss the timing, but not the content, of the release of the report. “He related that his team’s investigative work is complete,” said Ratcliffe, a Republican member of the House Intelligence and House Judiciary Committees. “They are now in the process of drafting the report. I would...

In an appearance on Fox News Monday evening, Rep. John Ratcliffe said he met last week with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz who said his office’s probe into alleged abuses of the FISA court by the Obama-era DoJ and FBI is complete. In addition, Ratcliffe said, the IG’s office is currently drafting its report, though it’s not clear when it will actually be presented to Attorney General William Barr.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), in an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” touched on a wide range of issues including the investigation by Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the potential testimony before Congress of former special counsel Robert Mueller, the release of new documents this week, and whether people in the FBI and DOJ will be held accountable. About the investigation by Horowitz into alleged FISA abuse, Meadows said that he expects the report to be delayed. “Only Michael Horowitz knows the exact timeframe of when it’s coming out. Obviously, the attorney general had indicated that...

In what seems like a reversal, the DNC-contracted author of the infamously sketchy dossier on Trump, Christopher Steele, is now willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities. Steele was hired by Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson as an outcome of a contract between the Clinton campaign and Fusion-GPS. Steele was hired by Fusion to work with Nellie Ohr (wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr), generate political opposition research, and write a dossier targeting candidate Donald Trump. According to the London Financial Times, the former MI6 intelligence operative is willing to talk to U.S. investigators, likely Michael Horowitz, regarding his contact with corrupt...