The finding is expected to be part of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on the investigation into a Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) warrant the FBI obtained to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Horowitz is expected to release the report on Dec. 9 and is scheduled to testify about it before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 11.
Horowitz referred the finding to U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is conducting a criminal investigation into issues tied to the investigation and surveillance of the Trump campaign before and after the 2016 presidential election.
Senior FBI and Justice Department officials signed off on the FISA application in October 2016. The bureau subsequently applied for and received three renewals of the warrant, extending the surveillance of Page through October 2017. The Justice Department never charged Page with a crime.
A crucial portion of the FISA application is based on an opposition-research dossier on then-candidate Trump. Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled the dossier using second- and third-hand sources with ties to the Kremlin.
The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ultimately funded Steele’s work. None of the four FISA applications mention that the Clinton campaign and the DNC funded the research behind the dossier.
President Donald Trump called into Fox and Friends on the morning of Nov. 22 and commented on the news.
“They were spying on my campaign, and it went right up to the top, and everybody knows it, and now we’re going to find out,” Trump said.
“You have [John] Durham, who is supposed to be the toughest. I’ve never met him, never spoke to him, but he is supposed to be the smartest and the best.
“This was spying on my campaign, something that has never been done in the history of our country. This was an overthrow attempt at the presidency. They tried to overthrow the presidency. This is a disgrace.
“I’m not surprised to see it. It’s just starting to come out. This is nothing compared to what you'll see over the next couple of weeks. These people are sick.”
Page, the subject of the FISA surveillance, told Fox News at an earlier appearance that the FBI used the application to spy on him “as a way of getting into the Trump campaign.” The power of surveillance under a FISA warrant is virtually unlimited, and includes the ability to collect the realtime and past communications of every person who was in touch with Page, in addition to all of the people in touch with Page’s contacts.
“There has been a continued coverup to this very day. We still don’t have the truth, but hopefully we'll get that soon,” Page told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.
