Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed Friday that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has completed his long-awaited report on how the Obama administration obtained warrants to spy on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
The congressman wrote Friday to the chairman of the committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Md., asking that he immediately schedule a hearing on the findings.
Collins said that earlier Friday, Horowitz notified Attorney General William Barr of the completion of his investigation into possible abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance of Act, or FISA, by DOJ officials.
“After the DOJ has a chance to review and comment on the report, it will be sent to the Judiciary Committee and made public,” he wrote.
Horowitz has been investigating the DOJ’s use of an unverified anti-Trump document funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to obtain warrants to spy on a Trump campaign adviser.
The main charges in the “dossier” — compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele — were debunked by Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation and none of the claims were verified.
“As you know, FISA oversight falls squarely within the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction,” Collins wrote to Nadler. “We must act swiftly to address concerns outlined in the inspector general’s report. Accordingly, I write to request you schedule a hearing as soon as possible following Congress’s receipt of the report.”
Collins further requested that Horowitz and FBI Director Christopher Wray be invited to discuss the findings of the investigation at the hearing.
“In accordance with the committee’s jurisdiction under House Rule X, it is critical that the Judiciary Committee be the first House committee to query the inspector general about his findings and Director Wray about steps he is taking to ensure any abuses do not reoccur,” Collins wrote. “Members of the Judiciary Committee on both sides of the aisle have unique expertise regarding FISA, making our committee best equipped to directly address the concerns contained in the Inspector General’s report.”
The majority House Democrats have expressed no interest in examining the origins of the debunked Trump-Russia conspiracy charges. Instead, Nadler’s committee is conducting what he describes as an “impeachment inquiry,” although there has been no required vote of the full House. The Democrat is focusing on alleged obstruction of justice charges against Trump. But Mueller left the decision on whether to refer any obstruction charges to the Justice Department, and Attorney General William Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there was insufficient evidence to do so.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., already has asked Attorney General William Barr to declassify material related to Horowitz’s investigation.
The senator asked for “as much declassification as possible,” he said in an interview with Fox News.
“I want the public to see the process in real time. I want the FISA warrant applications to be revealed to the public as much as possible.”
Former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova has said that he was informed the IG found that all four FISA warrants against onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page were obtained by the Obama administration illegally.
