A letter from the U.S. Department of Justice to Sen. Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, expressed the DOJ attorney’s regret for signing off on the federal spy warrants against Carter Page, a former Trump campaign affiliate during the FBI’s Russian collusion investigation.
“The OI attorney advises that had he/she been aware of the significant errors and omissions identified by the OIG and the errors in the Woods process, he/she would not have signed the filed Page FISA applications,” the letter states.
The warrants were found by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court in June to be approved on a false legal basis presented by the government.
In the letter, the DOJ clarifies that only one non-Senior Executive Service (SES) Department attorney reportedly signed the documents without knowledge of the “17 significant errors and omissions the Page FISA applications” as well as “50 errors in the FBI’s Woods process for the Page FISA applications” later identified by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The DOJ, however, disclosed that the myriad lies and misrepresentations in the Carter Page FISA were “primarily caused” by former FBI Director James Comey’s Crossfire Hurricane team refusing to “share all relevant information” with the OI or their department, allowing them to move forward in approving the applications.
According to the OI, “none of the inaccuracies and omissions that we identified in the renewal applications were brought to the attention of the OI before the applications were filed.” The report also found that the errors and omissions were a result of case agents who gave incorrect or incomplete information to the OI.
This letter by the DOJ adds new insight to the Obama-era investigation lead by Comey and other FBI officials to connect the Trump campaign with Russia in what is now known to be a hoax.
According to U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating the entire Crossfire Hurricane operation, further examination of the investigation of the shows that Comey and his team’s actions may not have been legal.
