Grassley Suspects ‘Deep State’ Is Responsible For Delay In FISA Abuse Report

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley expressed frustration Monday at a months long delay in the release of the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on possible FBI surveillance abuse against the Trump campaign, questioning whether the “deep state” has somehow slowed the release of the document.

“All of the delays and excuses why the Horowitz IG FISA report isn’t public yet after several months of anticipation of its issues leads me to the suspicion it’s going to be ‘deep six’ by the deep state,” Grassley wrote on Twitter.

Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, began in March 2018 investigating whether the FBI complied with legal requirements in applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The bureau relied heavily on the unverified Steele dossier in applications for the warrants, as well as for the main investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.

Christopher Steele, a former MI6 officer, dug up dirt on the Trump campaign on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign. In the dossier, he alleged that Trump aides, including Page, worked with Kremlin operatives to influence the 2016 election. Steele also claimed that there was a “well-developed conspiracy of coordination” between the Trump team and Russians.

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Whistleblower Did Not Disclose Contact With Schiff’s Office, Intel Inspector General Told Congress

• Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson testified Friday that the Trump whistleblower did not disclose contacts with Adam Schiff’s office when filing his complaint on Aug. 12.
• ICIG forms require whistleblowers to disclose contacts with other government officials related to their complaints.
• Rep. Adam Schiff’s office confirmed this week that the whistleblower reached out to one of the Democrat’s aides and that Schiff had a general idea of what was alleged in the complaint.

Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson told the House Intelligence Committee on Friday that a CIA whistleblower did not disclose contact with Chairman Adam Schiff’s office before filing a complaint against President Donald Trump, a source familiar with the watchdog’s testimony told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Fox News’ Catherine Herridge first reported that Atkinson said that the whistleblower did not disclose having contact with Schiff’s office, and so he did not investigate the matter.

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DOJ Inspector General Says Democrats Haven’t Reached Out About FISA Abuse Hearing

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Wednesday that House Democrats have not contacted him to testify about his anticipated report on potential FBI surveillance abuse during the Trump-Russia probe.

Republicans quizzed Horowitz at a House Oversight subcommittee about the forthcoming report, which looks at whether the FBI improperly surveilled Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The report is expected to be released in the next several weeks.

Horowitz declined to provide details about the investigation, including whether any current or former FBI officials will be referred for prosecution.

Republicans used much of the hearing to point out that Democrats have shown little interest in discussing the potential FISA abuse issue.

“We haven’t had to my knowledge discussions about testimony or a hearing,” Horowitz told Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan when asked if Democrats have contacted him to testify about the report once it’s released.

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Deep State: Lisa Page, Peter Strzok Conducted FBI’s Review to Classify Comey’s Memos

Former FBI employees Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the once romantically-linked duo infamous for their anti-Trump text messages, conducted the initial agency review of disgraced ex-FBI chief James Comey’s memos to determine whether the documents contained any potentially classified information.

Working on the initial classification review with Page and Strzok was another member of Comey’s inner circle, James A. Baker, the former FBI general counsel.

Those details were contained inside the report released last Thursday by the Justice Department’s inspector-general.

The IG report related that Strzok characterized himself, Page, Baker, and the Unit Chief of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Law Unit in the FBI’s Office of General Counsel as a “logical subset to sit and go through” Comey’s memos memorializing his conversations with Trump to determine classification.

Strzok told the FBI that it made sense that this team conducted the initial classification review because the members had a lot of “history and experience of working investigations relating to … the disclosure of classified information,” including the FBI’s Clinton email investigation.

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REPORT: CHRISTOPHER STEELE REFUSING TO MEET WITH DOJ INSPECTOR GENERAL, WHICH IS SCRUTINIZING EX-SPY’S DOSSIER

Christopher Steele declined to meet with the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, which is reportedly poised to cast doubt on the veracity of some of the former British spy’s infamous anti-Trump dossier.

Steele declined the inspector general’s request on the grounds that it would be improper for him to take part “in an internal Justice Department investigation as a foreign national and former British intelligence agent,” Politico reported Wednesday.

The explanation is somewhat ironic given that Steele, a former MI6 officer, provided his anti-Trump research to the FBI as well as to Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official.

Witnesses who have met with the inspector general’s office told Politico that they got the impression that investigators are “going to try and deeply undermine” Steele’s work.

The investigation is also likely “to cast doubt on the veracity of the information Steele provided about [Carter] Page that the FBI included in its application for a [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] warrant,” according to Politico.

Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, opened an investigation on March 28, 2018 into whether the FBI abused the FISA by relying on Steele’s dossier to obtain spy warrants against Page. Horowitz’s investigation is expected to wrap up in May or June, according to sources familiar with the matter.

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IG: MCCABE USED STRZOK’S MISTRESS TO BYPASS CHAIN OF COMMAND TO MONITOR CLINTON PROBE

• Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe used Peter Strzok’s mistress, Lisa Page, to get information on the FBI probe into investigation of Clinton’s private server
• McCabe used Page to “circumvented the official chain of command”
• Other bureau officials took issue with the decision

Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe tasked the mistress of lead agent Peter Strzok to stay appraised of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private server — a decision that other bureau officials took issue with at the time, according to the Department of Justice Inspector General’s bombshell report.

McCabe was supposed to be insulated from the probe by two levels of management: Strzok worked for counterintelligence head Bill Priestap, who worked for national security head Michael Steinbach, who reported up to McCabe. However, Strzok communicated about the probe with his mistress, Lisa Page, who worked directly for McCabe and acted as a liaison for the Clinton investigation for the deputy director.

The report says:

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