Inspector general testifies about Russia report

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he had “serious concerns” about the secretive surveillance court that approved politically sensitive wiretaps in 2016.

He added that he’s not sure the court should continue to exist “unless there is fundamental reform.”

What you need to know about the court: The special court operates in secret and approves wiretaps under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — or FISA — a law that is typically used to target foreign spies and terrorists. The court was created by Congress in in 1978 and is comprised of 11 federal trial-level judges chosen by the Chief Justice.

In 2016, the FBI sought and received approval from the court to surveil Carter Page for nearly a year, starting shortly after he left the Trump campaign in the fall of 2016.

What the report says about FISA: The inspector general's report found that significant errors and problems with how the FBI prepared the applications to the court, including the critical finding that exculpatory evidence about Page was omitted. Trump and Graham said these findings prove that the FISA process was abused, for political purposes, though the DOJ IG said there was no bias in the decision to seek FISA surveillance of Page, and these procedural failures were generally mistakes and sloppiness, not intentional manipulation.

“I would hate to lose the ability of the FISA court to operate at a time probably when we need it the most,” Graham said today.

He continued: “But after your report, I have serious concerns about whether the FISA court can continue unless there is fundamental reform. After your report, I think we need to rewrite the rules of how you start a counter-intelligence investigation and the checks and balances that we need.” 

A spokesperson for the court declined to comment this week after the publication of the report.

Sen. Lindsey Graham has named publicly the lower-level FBI lawyer who allegedly changed a document used in the Carter Page FISA warrant application.

Graham referred to “Clinesmith” during the inspector general hearing before the Senate. That’s Kevin Clinesmith.

CNN first reported the inspector general had discovered the situation, and that it was referred to prosecutor John Durham as a potential criminal matter.

What the report says: The report released Monday described more details of what had happened. The change to the Page-related email had said Page was “not a ‘source’” for intelligence, when in fact he had been. At first, the attorney told the inspector general he was not sure how the change happened, then later acknowledged he had made the change. Page’s status as a source to US intelligence was a notable error among several within the FBI regarding the court application to surveil the former Trump campaign affiliate.

Clinesmith has not been charged with a crime. An attorney for Clinesmith has not responded to CNN requests for comment this week.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Russia – not Ukraine – was responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta in 2016.  

Some context: This aligns with assessments from the US intelligence community, including the FBI, CIA and NSA, that it was Russia. But President Trump has repeatedly rejected and contradicted those conclusions, and has promoted unfounded theories that Ukraine framed Russia for the hacks, and that Ukraine is hiding the DNC servers.

Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, said the inspector general's report “conclusively refutes” prior claims by Trump and Attorney General William Barr.

What the report itself says: The report essentially rebuts more than two years of talking points by Trump and Republicans about a deep-state effort to derail his campaign.

There were no FBI spies planted in Trump Tower, for instance. And the famed dossier by ex-British spy Christopher Steele was not the reason the investigation was launched, the IG report states.

The IG's office found that the FBI did not try to recruit members of the Trump campaign as informants, and did not to try infiltrate the campaign itself — either by instructing sources to get hired onto the campaign, or by sending sources into campaign spaces to collect information.

Several senators spoke to CNN this morning outside of today’s Senate Judiciary hearing.

Here's what they have to say about the FBI and Attorney General William Bar.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Chairman, said in his opening statement at today's hearing that what happened “was not a few irregularities,” but rather “the system failed."

Graham criticized the way the media has reported on the IG report, saying, “You clearly didn’t read it. If that’s your takeaway that this thing was lawfully predicated, and that’s the main point, you miss the entire report.”

He claimed that the Clinton campaign was briefed on election interference by the FBI and his committee will receive a defensive briefing tomorrow, but complained that the FBI “never made any effort” to brief Donald Trump about “suspected problems” within his 2016 campaign.

Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham just gaveled in today's hearing. The committee will hear from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

In his written testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz will reiterate his conclusion that the FBI Russia investigation was properly opened but spotlights concerns over “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in surveillance warrant applications.

CNN obtained a copy of his opening remarks. Here are the key lines:  

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, was asked if the President still has confidence in FBI director Christopher Wray.

Graham replied as he walked into the hearing: “I don’t know, you’d have to ask, I do.”

Some background: Inspector general Michael Horowitz, the DOJ watchdog, is testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary committee this morning about his report on alleged abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The report revealed the 2016 Trump campaign Russia probe was justified and unbiased.