Horowitz is likely scrutinizing every aspect of the FISA approval process, and the head of the FBI plays an integral role.
The FISA filings required approval from top members of the FBI and the Justice Department, so other possible targets of Horowitz's inquiry likely included the approvers of the four applications and renewals: Comey; Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates; Dana Boente, the only signatory in active government service and currently Trump's top lawyer at the FBI; then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller to be special counsel the month before.
The 412 pages of redacted FISA documents released in 2018 show the Justice Department and the FBI made extensive use of Steele's dossier, which he put together in 2016 at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The Clinton campaign hired the firm through Marc Elias of the Perkins Coie law firm and was briefed about Steele's findings throughout the race.
Last Thursday, FBI interview notes with top DOJ official Bruce Ohr shed light on his role as a conduit between Steele and the FBI in 2016 and 2017, after the bureau says it cut Steele off as a source for leaking to the media.
Ohr told the FBI that Steele was desperate Trump not win and suggested some of Steele's information may have stemmed from "Russian conspiracy theories." Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked at Fusion GPS, and Bruce Ohr passed her research along to the FBI. Horowitz is also likely looking into the FBI's use of an article by Michael Isikoff to bolster its FISA filings.
The Justice Department inspector general said when he launched the investigation last year at the behest of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions he would "Examine the Justice Department's and the FBI's compliance with legal requirements" related to FISA filings against Page and review the DOJ's and the FBI's dealings with Steele.
Former FBI General Counsel James Baker is also likely to be among those scrutinized, since he admitted he inserted himself into the FISA approval process and reviewed the first FISA application.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/analysis-who-and-what-the-horowitz-report-is-likely-to-cover
The FISA filings required approval from top members of the FBI and the Justice Department, so other possible targets of Horowitz's inquiry likely included the approvers of the four applications and renewals: Comey; Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates; Dana Boente, the only signatory in active government service and currently Trump's top lawyer at the FBI; then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller to be special counsel the month before.
The 412 pages of redacted FISA documents released in 2018 show the Justice Department and the FBI made extensive use of Steele's dossier, which he put together in 2016 at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. The Clinton campaign hired the firm through Marc Elias of the Perkins Coie law firm and was briefed about Steele's findings throughout the race.
Last Thursday, FBI interview notes with top DOJ official Bruce Ohr shed light on his role as a conduit between Steele and the FBI in 2016 and 2017, after the bureau says it cut Steele off as a source for leaking to the media.
Ohr told the FBI that Steele was desperate Trump not win and suggested some of Steele's information may have stemmed from "Russian conspiracy theories." Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie, worked at Fusion GPS, and Bruce Ohr passed her research along to the FBI. Horowitz is also likely looking into the FBI's use of an article by Michael Isikoff to bolster its FISA filings.
The Justice Department inspector general said when he launched the investigation last year at the behest of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions he would "Examine the Justice Department's and the FBI's compliance with legal requirements" related to FISA filings against Page and review the DOJ's and the FBI's dealings with Steele.
Former FBI General Counsel James Baker is also likely to be among those scrutinized, since he admitted he inserted himself into the FISA approval process and reviewed the first FISA application.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/analysis-who-and-what-the-horowitz-report-is-likely-to-cover
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