Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the U.S. Justice Department, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday there were “many basic and fundamental errors” made by the FBI as it investigated ties between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
Horowitz appeared before the committee two days after his office released a report that found no political bias in the FBI's investigation as it related to Trump's campaign. But the report also found flaws in how the agency conducted the investigation.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported Horowitz told senators the FBI failed to follow its own standards for accuracy and completeness when it sought a warrant from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor the communications of ex-campaign aide Carter Page.
The report detailed 17 errors and omissions during those wiretap applications, including failing to tell the court when questions about raised about the reliability of some of the information that it had presented to receive the warrants.
Earlier this week, Horowitz released his department's long-awaited report on the FBI's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The 476-page report found that “Crossfire Hurricane,” the code name for the original Russia investigation, "was opened for an authorized investigative purpose and with sufficient factual predication."
The committee chairman, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, echoed that sentiment in his opening statement. He said the code name for the FBI investigation, “Crossfire Hurricane,” was an apt title “because that’s what we ended up with — a ‘Crossfire Hurricane.’”
“What happened here is the system failed. People in the highest levels of government took the law into their own hands,” said Graham.
On Tuesday, House Democrats announced they are drafting two articles of impeachment against the president. The Democrat-controlled House is likely to vote on the articles before Christmas, setting the stage for a U.S. Senate trial next year.
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