Obama officials who approved spy warrants now in charge of 'FISA reform'

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee June 18, 2018 (Video screenshot)

In a case akin to the proverbial fox guarding the hen house, the very Obama officials who signed the illegal FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign have been put in charge of reforming the system.

High-ranking Justice Department official Gabriel Sanz-Rexach was regarded as the FISA "gatekeeper" when the Justice Department and the FBI submitted a bogus anti-Trump "dossier" of Russian propaganda funded by Democrats as evidence to obtain four warrants, reports Paul Sperry.

Now, he's the official who certified to the FISA court after the devastating DOJ inspector general report that the department will reform its ways.

Meanwhile, FBI general counsel Dana Boente, who signed off on the third warrant to spy on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, is designated to do the same for the bureau.

The Gateway Pundit noted Obama Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates worked with Sanz-Rexach on FISA warrants in January 2017.

BREAKING:Gabriel Sanz-Rexach is Obama official who was the FISA gatekeeper at DOJ in 2016 when the illegal warrant to spy on Trump campaign was authorized. Sanz-Rexach also happens to be the same official who just certified to the FISA court that DOJ & FBI would reform their ways

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) February 7, 2020

BREAKING: Dana Boente was the hi-ranking DOJ official held over from the Obama admin who signed off on the now-invalid 3rd FISA warrant to spy on Trump aide Carter Page. Boente is now the FBI's GC who just certified to the FISA court the FBI would reform its FISA abusing #FixIsIn

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) February 7, 2020

Yates scheduled two FISA meetings with Sanz-Rexach, Stuart Evans of the DOJ's National Security Division, Matthew Axelrod and Tashina Gua of the office of the deputy attorney general, and two other officials from the National Security Division, according to Michael Horowitz's inspector general report on FISA abuse.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/28/ig-report-proves-obama-administration-spied-on-trump-campaign-big-time/">The Federalist reported the IG report notes Sanz-Rexach, the section chief of the Office of Intelligence’s Operations Section, contended "that the evidence collected during the first FISA application time period demonstrated that Carter Page had access to individuals in Russia and he was communicating with people in the Trump campaign."

Horowitz concluded the Obama administration was guilty of 17 "significant errors or omissions" in its use of the dossier to obtain the warrants.

But despite evidence to the contrary in his report, Horowitz said he found no reason to believe the administration's actions were rooted in political bias.

That conclusion by Horowitz has been officially challenged.

Last month, as WND reported, the Republican chairmen of two key committees charged in a letter to Attorney General William Barr that Horowitz's report misled the public.

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., want Barr to declassify four footnotes that contradict information in Horowitz's December report.

"Specifically, we are concerned that certain sections of the public version of the report are misleading because they are contradicted by relevant and probative classified information redacted in four footnotes," the senators state.