During Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the investigative FISA report with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Wednesday, Horowitz blasted former FBI Director James Comey. Horowitz said the IG report findings did not vindicate Comey from wrongdoing.
This revelation came out of a line of questioning by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“The former FBI Director James Comey said this week that your report vindicates him. Is that a fair assessment of your report?” Graham asked.
“You know, I think the activities we found here don’t vindicate anyone who touched this,” Horowitz said.
Graham continued to read a conversation between a news reporter and Comey.
Reporter: Can I ask you a question on FISA abuse? The major issue for the Republicans. Do you have total confidence in the dossier when you used it to secure a surveillance warrant and also in the subsequent renewals?
(This was asked in December of 2018, about a year ago.)
Comey: I have total process that the FISA process that the FISA process was followed. That the entire case was followed in a thoughtful, responsible way by DOJ and the FBI. I think the notion that FISA was abused here is nonsense.
“Would it be fair to say you take issue with that statement?” Graham asked Horowitz.
“Certainly, our findings were that there were significant problems,” Horowitz said.
After the IG report was released on Monday, Comey penned a prideful Washington Post Op-Ed titled, “The truth is finally out. The FBI fulfilled its mission.”
“The FBI opened an investigation to try to understand whether Americans, including any associated with the Trump campaign, were involved with the Russian influence effort. It would have been a dereliction of duty for the FBI not to investigate that,” Comey wrote, justifying his former department’s actions.
Today’s hearings solidified that Comey is a liar and the FBI used unverified information to apply for a FISA warrant. While Comey is trying to vindicate himself from his years of lying on national television, Horowitz is finally holding him accountable in Wednesday’s hearings.
