Horowitz Examining Past FISA Applications to Determine if FBI’s ‘Basic Errors’ are Systemic

 

The Justice Department inspector general said Wednesday that his team will take a closer look at Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications involving counterintelligence and counterterrorism in order to determine whether the “basic errors” the FBI made in applications to surveil the Trump campaign are widespread within the agency.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report earlier this month on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation that concluded agents failed to inform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the controversial Steele dossier, cited in applications to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page during the 2016 election, was unreliable.

“The concern is that this is such a high-profile, important case. If it happened here, is this indicative of a wider problem — and we will only know that when we complete our audit — or is it isolated to this event?” Horowitz told lawmakers during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday. “Obviously, we need to do the work to understand that.”