Attorney General William Barr is rejecting a key finding in the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the Russia probe, The Washington Post reported Monday.
People familiar with the matter told The Post that Barr said he does not agree with the report’s finding that the FBI had enough intelligence to initiate an investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016.
The long-awaited report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is expected to be made public in a week. But a draft is being discussed behind the scenes, and the attorney general reportedly is not persuaded that the FBI investigation was justified.
The draft report is now being finalized and shown to the witnesses and offices investigated by Horowitz.
People familiar with the matter told the newspaper that Barr believes information from other agencies such as the CIA could change Horowitz’s finding that the investigation was warranted.
The Post noted it was unclear how Barr will voice his disagreement with the report’s finding. The department typically includes a formal letter response in inspector general reports, but Barr could also speak out publicly.
Trump has said the inspector general report would prove that intelligence officers under former President Obama were “spying” on his campaign and abusing their power to prevent him from being president.
Democrats have criticized Barr for what they see as him operating as the president’s personal attorney. Barr could not order Horowitz to alter his report because the inspector general operates independently from the department.
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Barr rejects Justice Dept IG findings that vindicated Obama-era FBI on spying claims: report https://t.co/HWW2vztJc4 pic.twitter.com/yT4IKGP57Y
— The Hill (@thehill) December 3, 2019
Totally confident that judicial nominations pulled from a pool of this guy's friends will be non-partisan arbiters of the original meaning of the Constitution. https://t.co/dOpSeScE0p
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 3, 2019
🙄Déjà vu all over again
Barr disagrees with the "inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign"https://t.co/2isNAvSWP7
— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) December 3, 2019
Barr flat-out lied to the American people about the findings of the Mueller report. Now he apparently will dispute the findings of the DOJ Inspector General because those findings don’t help Trump. I hope Congress will soon turn its attention to Barr. https://t.co/v95cvDmjH9
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) December 3, 2019
This is an important distinction that folks are probably missing:
IG reports are oftentimes absolutely brutal. This is necessary to prevent abuses of power at the top levels of government.
For Horowitz to clear the origins of the investigation means it was rock-solid. https://t.co/cQ3TQqmbj3
— Angry Staffer (@AngrierWHStaff) December 3, 2019
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