Headline Roundup • December 9th, 2019

DOJ Investigation Finds Flaws in FBI's Carter Page Probe, No Evidence of Bias

Russia,National Security,Carter Page,Justice Department,Christopher Steele,FISA,FBI,Defense And Security

Summary from the AllSides News Team

A Department of Justice investigation of the FBI's investigation into a former campaign official for President Donald Trump said the bureau made over a dozen "significant errors", but concluded by finding no evidence of political bias in the probe. Inspector General Michael Horowtiz's investigation was met with criticism from John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who's conducting a separate review of the origins of the FBI's Russia probe. Left-rated voices gave more weight to the lack of political bias found in the investigation; right-rated coverage focused more on the FBI's procedural violations.

Featured Coverage of this Story

Justice Department Inspector General Finds ‘Serious Performance Failures’ in FBI’s Carter Page Probe

Daily Beast

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Justice Department Inspector General Finds ‘Serious Performance Failures’ in FBI’s Carter Page Probe

Daily Beast

News

The Justice Department’s top watchdog blasted the FBI for a series of “fundamental errors” in its probe of a Trump campaign official but said it found no evidence that political bias fueled the investigation.

Less than an hour after the long-awaited findings from Inspector General Michael Horowitz were released, a federal prosecutor conducting a separate investigation of the FBI’s action—and reporting directly to Attorney General Bill Barr—pushed back.

“Our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department,” John Durham, the U.S. attorney in...

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DOJ inspector general finds 17 'significant errors or omissions' in Carter Page FISA applications

Washington Examiner

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News

The Justice Department watchdog excoriated the FBI for relying upon British ex-spy Christopher Steele's dossier in obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who released a report on Monday showing his findings regarding allegations of surveillance abuses, also found the FISA process was significantly flawed and marred by serious mistakes and missteps, but determined that the initiation of the Trump-Russia investigation itself crossed the low threshold to be properly predicated and was not influenced by political bias as some...

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Justice Watchdog Highlights FBI ‘Failures’ but Says Russia Probe Was Justified

Wall Street Journal (News)

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News

The FBI made significant errors in 2016 when it sought to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser, an internal watchdog said, as part of what it found to be a justified probe into links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The report’s scathing assessment of the FBI’s actions make it likely to further inflame a partisan debate about the propriety of the agency’s investigation into Trump campaign associates. The Justice Department’s inspector general found the FBI had information that undercut material it was relying on from a controversial former British...

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