FISA Abuse Report Is ‘Lengthy’ And Has ‘Few’ Redactions, DOJ Watchdog Tells Congress

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. Republicans have anticipated the report for months, with many speculating that it will show that the FBI misled the FISA court by relying heavily on the unverified Steele dossier to spy on Page. Horowitz’s description of the report is likely to please Republicans, in that it suggested most of the information that the watchdog uncovered will be made public. “Given that our draft report is lengthy, and concerns sensitive national security and law enforcement matters, we understood that it would take the Department and the FBI some time to work through and appropriately mark the entire report,” Horowitz said in the letter. “The goal from my standpoint is to make as much of our report public as possible,” said Horowitz, adding that he anticipates the final report “will be released publicly with few redactions.”...MORE