At long last….after months of waiting….it appears the Inspector General report from Michael Horowitz is complete!
And it’s coming to Bill Barr next week!
Not only that, but it’s expected to kick off the full declass we have also been expecting. (C before D, Q).
That is, according to an interview with John Solomon on last night’s Hannity.
WOW!
Here’s the full interview:
The Washington Examiner had more:
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has reportedly completed his investigation into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses by the Justice Department and FBI.
The Hill's John Solomon made the announcement Thursday evening on Fox News.
"What I can report tonight, Sean, is that the IG has completed his work on the FISA abuse report. It's expected to be transmitted as early as next week to Attorney General William Barr and that will begin a process of declassification," the investigative reporter told host Sean Hannity.
"I think we are still on track for that timeline, I've been saying on your show: mid-September to early October seems the most likely release point," Solomon said. "It's going to be a tough report," he added.
The timeline for Horowitz's investigation, which began in March 2018, has repeatedly shiftedover the past few months because of various developments.
Horowitz's team is examining the FISA application and three renewals beginning in October 2016 to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The applications relied heavily onthe unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS and funded by Democrats.
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Republicans have argued the dossier's Democratic benefactors, which included Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and its author's anti-Trump bias were left out of the FISA applications, and they have demanded accountability. Democrats counteredthat the FBI acted appropriately, saying the Justice Department and the FBI met the rigor, transparency, and evidentiary basis for probable cause.
Meanwhile, Barr's "investigation into the investigators" is underway, and the attorney general has said he is working very closely with Horowitz. The inspector general can recommend prosecutions, and U.S. Attorney John Durham, whom Barr tasked to lead the review of the origins of the Russia investigation, has the ability to convene a grand jury and subpoena people outside the government.
Get your popcorn ready friends!
And don't forget Lindsey Graham says the report will be "ugly and damning"!
From Fox News:
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is adamant about revealing what went on behind the scenes of the Russia investigation and is looking forward to the American people learning about what happened.
Graham pointed to three investigations of the investigators that are taking place: one by his committee; one by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr to conduct a probe; and one by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
"I believe the Horowitz report will be ugly and damning," Graham told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures." That report has been anticipated for months, but it has faced delays in recent months.
"Every time you turn around you find something new," Graham explained. "Mr. Horowitz is doing a very in-depth dive" into the FBI's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to acquire a warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Graham predicted that the report will finally come out in the coming weeks.
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Another man linked to the early stages of the investigation -- former Trump campaign member George Papadopoulos -- is eager to tell his side of the story after serving a brief sentence for providing a false statement to investigators. Papadopoulos is said to have brought about the investigation by revealing to an Australian diplomat (who later alerted U.S. officials) that he had information that Russia had damaging information about Hillary Clinton. This was after he heard about this from Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud.
Graham said that once Horowitz's IG report comes out, he would like Papadopoulos to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Graham believes that, based on interview transcripts, Papadopolous was "clearly" not working with Russians.
And don't forget, news broke earlier this month that the reason the Report had been delayed was because new "reluctant witnesses" continued to come forward.
That's a GOOD thing folks, very good!
From Fox News:
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.
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