Horowitz expected to outline justification for Trump-Russia probe
The US Justice Department’s internal watchdog will release a highly anticipated report today that’s expected to reject Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the investigation into
The US Justice Department’s internal watchdog will release a highly anticipated report today that’s expected to reject Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the investigation into
whether he or his campaign colluded with Russia was illegitimate or illegal and that it was not blighted by political bias in the FBI.But it is also expected to document errors during the investigation that may animate Trump supporters, The Associated Press writes.
The report, as described by people familiar with its findings, is expected to conclude there was an adequate basis for opening one of the most politically sensitive investigations in FBI history.
It began in secret during Trump’s 2016 presidential run and was ultimately taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller after Trump fired FBI director James Comey early in his presidency in 2017.
The release of DoJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review is unlikely to quell the partisan battles that have surrounded the Russia investigation for years. It’s also not the last word:
A separate internal investigation continues, overseen by Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, and led by a US attorney, John Durham. That investigation is criminal in nature
Horowitz’s report is expected to identify errors and misjudgments by some law enforcement officials, including by an FBI lawyer suspected of altering a document related to the surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide.
But the report will not endorse some of the president’s theories on the investigation, including that it was a baseless “witch hunt” or that he was targeted by an Obama administration Justice Department desperate to see Republican Trump lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
It also is not expected to undo Mueller’s findings or contradict his conclusion that Russia interfered in order to benefit the Trump campaign.
The FBI opened its investigation in July 2016 after learning that a Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, had been told before it was publicly known that Russia had ‘dirt’ on the Clinton campaign via hacked emails.
