AG Bill Barr’s investigation into the origins of the Russia probe that led to the Mueller investigation is going to take a little longer than he planned.
Earlier this year, Barr had originally estimated that his invesigation into potential FISA abuse and spying on the Trump campaign would be finished by May or June.
But, here we are in July with still no report.
However, it seems that there’s a good reason for that.
In a recent video by the news station, it was revealed that new witnesses have stepped forward to give further insight on the Steele dossier and that, “Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz recently became aware of new evidence about a senior State Department official’s contact in mid-October 2016 with former British spy and anti-Trump dossier author, Christopher Steele.”
We can only imagine what the new sources and evidence will reveal, but we can predict it’s going to be huge!
Watch what Fox News has to say about the new witnesses and evidence in the investigation into the Russia probe by clicking here.
Twitter user Don Nash also shared the video in a tweet, in which he made a great point:
Fox News followed up their video on the delay in the report with more details on the reluctant witnesses mentioned in the video that have agreed to speak with Michael Horowitz:
Key witnesses sought for questioning by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz early in his investigation into alleged government surveillance abuse have come forward at the 11th hour, Fox News has learned.
Sources familiar with the matter said at least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI started cooperating -- a breakthrough that came after Attorney General William Barr ordered U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead a separate investigation into the origins of the bureau’s 2016 Russia case that laid the foundation for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
While the investigative phase of the inspector general’s long-running probeis said to be complete,the sources said recent developments required some witnesses to be reinterviewed. And while Barr testified that he expected the report into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse to be ready in May or last month, multiple sources said the timeline has slipped.
"The wheels of inspector general investigations move very, very slowly," former senior DOJ official Tom Dupree told Fox News.
Dupree, who served as deputy assistant attorney general from 2007 to 2009, does not have firsthand knowledge of the current IG case but is familiar with the process. He added, "Like any investigation, you talk to one person, something that person tells you sends you back … to the first person, so it can be a very extensive, exhaustive process, because you are constantly picking up leads, interviewing former sources and navigating complex questions of classified information."
Late-breaking information is known to delay such investigations. Horowitz’s office similarly encountered new evidence late in the process of the IG review into law enforcement decisions during the 2016 Hillary Clinton email investigation. In this case, additional FISA information came to light late in the process – including October 2016 contact (first reported by The Hill and confirmed by Fox News) between a senior State Department official and a former British spy Christopher Steele, who authored the infamous and salacious anti-Trump dossier.
In a related story, Republican Rep. Peter King of New York seems to think that the findings of Barr's investigation are going to bring to light corruption not only in the FBI, but the CIA as well!
He recently came out and said, “Just from evidence I’ve seen over the last several years being on the Intelligence Committee, being a member of Congress, there’s no doubt to me there were severe serious abuses that were carried out in the FBI, and I believe the top levels of the CIA."
Here's more on what King thinks is going to happen when Barr's report is finally ready, from Fox News:
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said he is “confident” that when Attorney General Bill Barr concludes his investigation of the origins of the investigation of President Trump’s 2016 campaign, the American people will learn that the FBI and CIA under the Obama administration engaged in foul play.
President Trump and his supporters have questioned how the investigation started in the first place, accusing the FBI of carrying it out under false pretenses. King is among those leveling such allegations.
“There was no legal basis at all for them to begin the investigation of his campaign,” King said in a Friday interview with New York radio host John Catsimatidis, “and the way they carried it forward and the way information was leaked, the improper applications they filed in the FISA court to get surveillance, all of this is going to come out.”
King was referring to the FBI’s application for a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Republicans, including California Rep. Devin Nunes, claimed that federal authorities did not fully disclose their reliance on an unverified dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, which was part of opposition research for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Democrats dispute the notion that anything improper took place. They claim the dossier did not play a major role, and point to a footnote in the warrant application that acknowledged that some of the information came from research on Trump that was likely meant to hurt his campaign, even if it did not spell out exactly who paid for it.
Republicans are now waiting on a report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, following an investigation of possible FBI abuses of the FISA system. Fox News has learned that key witnesses have come forward, after previously holding out.
Sources familiar with the matter said at least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI started cooperating -- a breakthrough that came after Attorney General William Barr ordered U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead a separate investigation into the origins of the bureau’s 2016 Russia case that laid the foundation for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
As Gregory Pennington put it in this tweet, we're all waiting (anxiously!) to see what comes of the investigation:
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!