It's totally disgusting to see the Attorney General of the United States, meant to represent justice of the Federal Government behave like a lackey to a corrupt president
35
Thank you, Mr. Barr, for continuing to lie to the American public.
48
I'm stunned by the similarities of this revelation to the Pentagon Papers: Same sort of report, done for the same reasons, showing the same failures, meant for internal government consumption only and to be kept from the public ... only to be ultimately revealed, showing the duplicity and fraudulence of multiple presidential administrations.
The only difference I've seen so far, and I'm only partway into it, is in how they were revealed. The Pentagon Papers were smuggled out of a think tank in a brave whistleblower's briefcase, whereas the Afghan reports have been dug up through through dogged reporting and successful lawsuits.
We've learned nothing. Nothing about fighting wars, nothing about the responsibilities of a democratic government to the people it represents. Are we really this stupid as a species? (Save it-- I know the answer.)
218
This story is about the IG investigation of the FBI handling of the initial Russia inquiry. What does that have to with Afghanistan?
70
@Sixofone
Great. What does that have to do with the fact that this shows Republican/Barr/Trump lies and corruption?
69
@Sixofone,
I believe you intended to reply to a different article about papers uncovered by the NYT that document deliberately false military assessments of success in Afghanistan almost from the start of America's longest war and continuing to the present day.
The article you actually replied to is about the just released Inspector General's report on the origins and conduct of the FBI investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election.
86
Barr and Dunham could have written their report months ago. Barr knows exactly what he wants it to say and Dunham must have agreed to deliver that conclusion. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been hired.
4
they have already convened a grand jury and opened a criminal investigation, game on
4
"Many of the problems Mr. Horowitz identified centered on the use of the Steele dossier, which his report portrayed as “essential” to establishing for the FISA court that investigators had probable cause to suspect that Mr. Page was an agent of a foreign power. The initial application relied on four claims from the dossier, and the credibility of each eroded over time."
The people who signed off on these warrants need to be held accountable, they new Steele was lying. This is where Durham comes in...
5
The report finds no bias -- at least no one admitted to it. But, to me, it looks like these many mishaps do indicate SOMETHING was amiss in their approach to this topic of Trump and the investigation of him. People simply said they didn't have a bias, and the IG accepted that. The IG is not able to do more -- so they accepted that.
Durham seems to feel more is going on here. Durham is law enforcement, and has a wider scoping view of this. I think we wait for Durham.
And, even if you hate Fox News, they were discussing the questions around the FBI investigation two years ago. They were on to the threads of this. Everyone else in MSM ignores it as much as they can.
10
In Trump and Barr, we have the worst of America. Let’s hope we survive them as a country.
5
Conservative commentators in this space are aghast at the bias inside the FBI. Aghast!
To which I say, get over it.
Anyone who has the least intelligence and is not a white nationalist or white nationalist-lite understands that Trump was corrupt from the get go, way before he even announced his candidacy. We've been opposed to him and his lying, cheating ways for much longer than he's been president. So has there been a bit a bias? Why shouldn't there be? He's a crook. Always has been, always will be.
So if you sense some bias eking out of the report, eh. Look to your own biases, particularly when they come to enabling our Crook In Chief and his dismantling the Constitution.
13
While the Horowitz report claims that "F.B.I. officials had sufficient reason to open the investigation into links between Russia and Trump campaign aides in 2016", that finding should trouble every American. Apparently all it takes is some bar room bragging to a gossipy foreign diplomat to unleash heads of the FBI to investigate, surveil and interrogate you and everyone in your orbit. Never mind that the there was never any substance to Papadopoulos's claim about having knowledge of Clinton dirt. Never mind that such claims coming from a 20 something hanger-on would strike any objective person as absurd. Never mind that FBI agent Peter Strzok at the very outset said "there's no there there".
Apparently gossip is all it takes for the FBI to initiate a 3 year scorched earth campaign that needlessly and viciously destroyed peoples lives and further inflame an already divided country. Ironically, had the FBI willing colluded with Russia to meddle in our elections and foment unrest among our citizens they couldn't have done a better job.
5
The IG report (page 53) states that the FBI launched Crossfire Hurricane because it “received information on July 28, 2016, about a conversation between [George] Papadopoulos and an official of a Friendly Foreign Government (FFG) in May 2016 during which Papadopoulos "suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion" from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to candidate Clinton and President Obama.” The report says the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane investigation three days after receiving this information. Crossfire Hurricane began on July 31, 2016.
On page 59, the IG report states that FBI agent Peter Strzok and a supervisory special agent on Aug. 1, 2016, interviewed the FFG official who met with Papadopoulos and “learned that Papadopoulos did not say that he had direct contact with the Russians.”
On the second day of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI learned that its predication for investigation was wrong. Crossfire Hurricane should have ended on Aug. 1, one day after it began. Strzok Instead, as Attorney General William Barr noted, “the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration.”
5
I have not yet understood what reason Barr gives for distrusting these investigations. I cannot wrap my head around it.
2
In is inexplicable how Barr concludes the investigation political and contrary to Horowitz's report, just as it was when Barr concluded Trump exonerated in contradiction to the Mueller report. Trump is a demagogue, and Barr's blind obedience and reckless support Trump's conspiracy theories to undermine the FBI has less appearance of partisanship and more the appearance of a propagandist wanting to support a demagogue - and that is alarming.
4
Putin will need to wait a little longer for the sanctions to be lifted. Maybe Durhams report will give trump the cover to lift the sanctions.
1
It's not the Horowitz report that is "certain to extend the debate over the legitimacy of the F.B.I.’s inquiry." It's Trump Team Fantasy syndrome, period. Please keep this straight, it's not complicated.
3
Of course Barr has tried to undercut the Inspector General's
report. That was to be expected after his interpretation of the Mueller report. Time for the IG to investigate the partisan
bias of the AG!
5
From the WSJ Editorial Board
The press corps is portraying Monday’s report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz as absolution for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but don’t believe it. The report relates a trail of terrible judgment and violations of process that should shock Americans who thought better of their premier law-enforcement agency.
Readers can look at the detailed executive summary and decide for themselves. But our own initial reading confirms the worst of what we feared about the bureau when it was run by James Comey. The FBI corrupted the secret court process for obtaining warrants to spy on former Trump aide Carter Page. And it did so by supplying the court with false information produced by Christopher Steele, an agent of the Hillary Clinton campaign.
***
How can anyone, most of all civil libertarians, pass this off as no big deal? The absolution is supposedly that Mr. Horowitz concludes that the FBI decision to open a counter-intelligence probe against the Trump campaign in July 2016 “was sufficient to predicate the investigation” under current FBI rules.
Yet Mr. Horowitz also notes that these rules amount to a “low threshold for predication.”
7
@Joe Borini; I agree with this assessment. In every media report of the IG's findings it was stated that "the report did not find any political motivations for the investigation" and every media report I listened to, the next point made was "....but the IG noted serious, fundamental mistakes made by the FBI in the investigation".
In none of the reporting was there an explanation of WHY the mistakes were made, only that the mistakes were significant.
Isn't that enough to determine there was/is motivation by the FBI? It seems very clear to me there was a pattern of motivation up and down the chain of command in the FBI.
If the FBI is making these types of mistakes on a very important investigation such as this, how are we as a public to trust that agency to NOT be making mistakes when it comes to our (the public) safety?
2
Maybe Barr and CO can get back to protecting our Country?
2
Nixon had his plumbers. Trump has his grovelers. Both can be laughed at for their loyalty to failed presidents.
Now, hasn’t the rest of the Trumplicans bleated and brayed about spending money on witch hunts yet Groveler Barr, Trump’s government-funded personal attorney, spending money on a witch hunt in which he hopes to root out the “deep state”?
The only thing deep around Barr and Trump is the depth of the cesspool they emerged from.
7
Barr is Trump's personal attorney. But Rudy Giuliani gets the spotlight.
2
So AG Barr will now presumably be working to drop the indictments on the 12 Russians that came out of the Mueller probe?
2
Why are you not highlighting the fact that Ivanka trump actually knew agent Steele a decade ago and maintained contact with him for a few years. For Trump family to call him names and for Devin Nunes and Republican intelligence committee members to repeatedly mention the Steele dossier simply shows the murkiness of this whole affair.
Now we know Devin Nunes was himself involved in Ukraine and Europe with the mission of uncovering dirt on the Bidens. Yet he remained ranking member on the intelligence committee impeachment hearings. That makes him a mole an insider with direct contact to the WH (Kash Patel once reported to Nunes).
Why aren’t media folks talking about these blatant mis steps by the republicans. They made so much noise at the hearings we had to mute the TV whenever any Republican spoke. None of the republicans had any concrete defense on behalf of the president. All they talked about was process procedure and votes.
What they do not know is in Hitler’s Germany economy boomed infrastructure projects prospered but as we all know he became a dictator who was allowed to swallow his followers’ souls and brains, whole!
9
Felonies have miraculously become " mistakes" ???
8
There we have it. It looks like there was a conspiracy but it isn’t. All the mistakes and errors made were all against Trump by chance. The low level employee forged documents but with no bias. He did it for fun I guess.
This is just like Hunter Biden did no wrong. It just looks really bad is all.
7
The FBI did a covert investigation that did not become known to the public until after the election. If the Bureau were trying to do prevent Trump from being elected, surely they would have found a way to make it public before the election. So the idea that the FBI acted with anti-Trump bias in that investigation is really unsupportable, as the Inspector General's report found. Now contrast that with Trump asking Ukraine to start an investigation of the Bidens and announce it immediately, which would taint Joe Biden's candidacy. It's clear that Trump and his cronies -- a sad word to have to use in connection with a President of our country, but maybe it's better than lackeys -- were acting in bad faith, whereas the FBI was not.
4
How can a democracy survive this type of official manipulation of power? The lies, polarization, dark money, foreign interference and structural inequalities of representation will be difficult to overcome. All of this comes from a group that does not represent the will of the people. Do everything you can to fight this, including voting.
4
It might be a mess in Washington but at least business is booming. The International Institution for Peace in Stockholm has just brought out its annual report on the evolution of arms sales. Bravo number one. USA. Billions made and climbing every year. You have 59 per cent of the world market. So why worry about Trump&co?
Reading of the Carter Page wiretap, one respected criminal law scholar reacted with irony:
"A law enforcement agency emphasized favorable information and understated unfavorable information when it applied for a warrant? I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!"
3
The press needs to do a better job reminding people the Steele dossier was originally started by, and paid for, by a GOP candidate before HRC's campaign got it. Saying that Clinton's campaign paid for it is only telling half the story.
Facts matter.
111
@dc
The reason the press doesn't remind people of this is because it is not true. Fusion GPS worked for another party during the early Republican primaries, but was then fired. It then was hired by Perkins Coie, which was representing Hillary. It was at that point that Steele was hired to compile the dossier.
See?
14
@dc wasn’t Ted Cruz also involved with investigating trump during his bid for presidency! It’s comical how he’s now behaving like trumps lap dog.
4
@dc The GOP candidate hired Fusion GPS before Fusion hired Steele. Steele didn’t get involved until after the DNC and Clinton campaign hired Fusion via a law firm.
17
So if I understand this correctly "documenting serious and systematic problems with the F.B.I.’s handling of applications to win court orders to wiretap Carter Page", it was certainly improper (illegal) from the start and none of this should have ever occurred. "It is all fruit from the poisonous tree."
7
As a physician, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst for over 50 years I worry about the grandiosity, pathological narcissism and other glaring character flaws of James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Stzrok, John Brennan and their boss Barack Obama who misunderstood Trump's sense of humor and unorthodox political style and developed their own grand conspiracy theory about President Trump and how to bring him down after they tried to prevent his elaction in the first place. These culprits were out of work and not under Horowitz's purview during his review. Durham and Barr's investigation will add to Horowitz's general findings findings.
11
@Peter You failed to mention you are an unapologetic Trump apologist which is evident due to the bias in your comment.
4
I have read much of the report - and still reading 8t.
I don't need AG Barr or even POTUS to tell me it was a damaging report.
It's a shocking report - especially Chapter 6.
And after reading it, it was the IG who attempted to spin it as "a good reason to investigate but mistakes were made."
"mistakes were made." - I remember that phrase from Watergate.
No less an authority on language than the late William Safire, in his Safire's Political Dictionary, devoted an entry to the oft-used phrase — describing it as "a passive-evasive way of acknowledging error while distancing the speaker from responsibility for it."
This whole IG report is making an attempt to distance DOJ and FBI from responsibility.
What I gathered from this report is it's not Russia who meddled.
But a determined British agent with the help of highly political partisans in DOJ and FBI who were equally determined to stop Trump.
It's a sobering reading which I urge folks to do.
Don't read the spin before reading the report.
You may then agree with AG Barr.
12
@ Neil. Wow thanks for that insight. Did the determined British agent hack the DNC and work with manafort, trump’s campaign manager? Everything else’s I’ve heard says it was the Russians.
3
As a scientist I know how difficult it is to evaluate data. We ask many questions about how the data were gathered, what the instruments were, how large the error bars were. And then we ask for a repeat of the experiment. But sometimes we miss things. We are not perfect. So we only decide a step into the future has been made when the community agrees.
I think the FBI's report should be seen in this way. In the sciences one graduate student might passionately believe something has been found, but the final reviewed paper may ignore the error. The final FBI report should not be evaluated on the basis of the passions of one agent.
1
Turns out Schiff and Comey were lying. The Steele dossier, which Comey pushed, did play a significant role.
The worst, however, is their pattern of hiding of exculpatory evidence. An FBI lawyer even altered an email to hide the fact that Carter Page was cooperating on another investigation, openly discussing Russia.
This should worry all Americans.
16
@AACNY I am more worried about what Trump and his government-funded attorney Barr will do to further undermine the government organizations and the people in their quest to gain absolute power.
Comey and Schiff lying? I suppose the claim depends on the bias of the person making the claim.
6
The fact you didn’t read it worries me when you state your beliefs as fact. Please try again.
1
@AACNY When you say that Schiff and Comey were lying, that's a lie. The only liars who were outed by this report are the President and the AG.
1
I just keep wondering why President Trump is so fixated on the FBI's investigation of his Russia connections. He acts like a man with something to hide. Any sane man listening to intelligent PR advice would just move on. After all, he won. Every time he brings the FBI up, he lies and pushes conspiracy theories about a deep state. Most Americans recognize that. Why just appeal to his base? And why when we have a good economy does he keep seeking foreign help in an election? And why is he so willing to play dirty politics in Ukraine? He's learned nothing from Nixon's failures, which were personal and vindictive. I think anyone can see that he has openly sought Russian, Ukrainian and even Chinese help to win elections. That alone is a reason for impeachment.
17
@P.A. I think I have the answer to all your questions boiled down to one word: compulsive. The president is an extremely compulsive individual.
2
Because he was hounded and falsely accused of being a traitor to his country for more than two years, attacked, vilified and targeted in the most vicious ways possible by top former Obama officials, all Democrats, the media and others. His reaction has actually been mild because he has faced the most unethical and destructive political forces any president has ever had to face.
4
I have to shake my head how Barr leaves out facts and details when he makes his pronouncements. Interpreting the Mueller Report before the rest of us had a chance to see it he left out the section in which Mueller outlined all the examples of obstruction of justice incidents. Bar simply announced that the report cleared the President of collusion and obstruction charges. Now in his latest "pull the wool over the public's eyes" he totally dismisses all the contacts that Trump campaign people had with Russian officials. How can that be ignored? He's also the guy who dismissed the Whistle Blowers concerns and refused to direct the Justice Department to investigate it, so of course the Democrats had to take over that role.
10
@David Each lies leads to more lies. It's inevitable.
2
Really, no evidence of political bias and yet 17 FBI errors were made? How could it start with Hillary Clinton trying to get information on the Trump campaign and then it's declared to have have no political bias? It continued based on the fantastical lies of the Stelle dossier and still there was no political bias? FBI agents later lied to obtain court permission and still no political bias? Reminds me of the Biden tagline, no evidence of wrongdoing.
21
Because he didn't find any documents indicating political bias and everyone involved who he was allowed to talk to said they certainly had no political biases and their motives were as pure as fresh falling snow. They were simply--all--stupid, bumbling fools, incompetent, ignorant, incapable of critical objective analysis, but without bias. Right.
2
Really? Just like Republican talking points always conveniently leave out the fact that it was the Republicans who first hired the firm to dig up the dirt on Trump before he was their nominee? How much of the dirt in the dossier was paid for by Republican money before the Democrats took it over?
1
@Beccaroo how do you explain Ivanka Trump’s friendship with Steele?
1
Once again Barr issues an unsolicited, politically motivated opinion and applies his fog machine to a reasonably clear but unfavorable investigatory report. This is his third, counting his employment application. Catch up
Now that the Mueller Report has been criticized by the Horowitz Report and the Horowitz Report has been criticized by the Barr Report, how about an investigation of Barr and his opinions? I’d love to see his emails and phone transcripts.
Our institutions were created to withstand a few bad apples, but the wholesale onslaught they are under now may prove their match.
8
The FBI had “sufficient reason” to open an investigation into Trump’s acolytes, because they openly courted Russia.
Of course William Barr is disappointed with the report by the Justice Department’s inspector general, because it rejected three years of Trump’s claims that he was the victim of a “deep state” conspiracy and that the investigation was based on a dossier compiled by an ex-British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele.
Michael Horowitz’s report also revealed that Steele had a “personal” relationship with Ivanka Trump and gifted her a “family tartan from Scotland” as a present.
He visited her at Trump Tower and had been “friendly” with her for “some years”. She even discussed with him about what his firm – Orbis Business Intelligence – might do for the her family business.
There was no indication that Steele's memos on collusion, written at the behest of the Washington-based research firm Fusion GPS, were in any way biased.
10
Political bias is not required for criminal activity to have occurred.
Durham operates across the entire government and with foreign countries, not just the FBI. He does not release 500 page reports listing dozens of findings regarding misconduct and misrepresentation.
Durham calls grand juries and issues indictments.
8
Well let him. Perhaps he will have the same success as Meuller did in indicting several Trump campaign officials and the multiple Russians assisting them.
And isn’t Durham doing the same thing Comey was criticized for - mouthing off before the final report was passed on up to Justice? Under this AG I guess it ok.
3
Republicans will keep spinning this tale and others. The truth doesn't fit their fictional narrative. Just read some of the comments below. They refuse to open their eyes.
13
"The Justice Department obtained three renewals of court permission to eavesdrop on Mr. Page — two under the Trump administration. "
What's that … two under the Trump administration. "
5
It was nice that the report was released to public. That way it was free from Barr's spin the way Barr spun Special Counsel's report in favor of Trump.
11
Does this mean Strzok and Page won't be going to jail? Why is it that every time Republicans investigate Democrats (yes, it is ok to call it a Republican justice department) they come up with mistakes but no perp walks? When it is the other way around you could make a board game out of all the Republicans going to prison.
Ds are either better investigators or more law abiding. In either case, it begs the question: Why would you vote Republican when you can vote for someone smarter and more ethical?
14
Amazing how the facts did not support the Democrats’ Russian vendetta against Trump.
They weaponized the FBI against Trump during the presidential campaign. It only emphasizes what a farce the Impeachment proceedings are. What’s next unpaid parking tickets?
14
@George
Trump's charges that they weaponized our intelligence agencies was true. They did whatever they had to do, even altering a key document and hiding evidence.
6
Whatever you think about Trump, everyone should be troubled by the IG’s report. The standards for opening the investigation were low. The FBI misled the FISA court through lies, omissions and misrepresentations in obtaining the Page warrants. Comey and McCabe led the FBI during this time and were properly fired. To pretend that there was no political bias is ridiculous. The Lisa Page and Peter Stroczk texts prove otherwise. In DC, Repubs and Dems will predictably line up as will the media. We the people deserve better from our leaders. Before any Times readers accuse me of supporting either side, I voted for Gary Johnson in 2016.
16
With or without the belief that political bias played a key role, anyone who reads the Executive Summary and is not shocked must themselves be highly biased. It is an indictment, if nothing else, of an FBI that without major reforms should never be trusted or believed.
1
The former FBI director, Comey, should be apologizing to Carter Page.
16
The Horowitz report confirms that the bureau deceived FISA judges with the Steele dossier.
16
Suddenly Trump supporters are reading the “fake New York Times” en masse and commenting about how strong Barr and Durham are, evidenced by so many supportive comments. Does anyone else find this find this trend fascinating?
17
"At the same time, Mr. Horowitz’s report was scathing about other aspects of the sprawling inquiry, documenting serious and systematic problems with the F.B.I.’s handling of applications to win court orders to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser. Mr. Horowitz said investigators appeared to overstate the strength of their applications, and he separately referred one low-ranking F.B.I. lawyer for possible prosecution for altering a related document."
This seems like the opposite of an endorsement of the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign.
He, personally I am sure Trump was doing everything he could to get help from anybody, anywhere.
But, it does seem like either huge incompetence or actual malfeasance accompanied the onset of the investigation in Trump's ties.
The report is pretty damning of the entire process from usage of the Steele Report as the FISA support to much more.
Too bad. It would have been nice to nail Trump for something finally.
The guy has spent his whole life crooked and getting away with it.
6
After reading Mr. Barr’s comments on the Michael Horowitz report about the FBI’s Russia inquiry, I could not be more disappointed in Mr. Barr, maybe particularly because I am also a lawyer. He is certainly not what I fancied a lawyer to be when I went to law school almost fifty years ago, nor is he what I fancy a lawyer to be today. And he is definitely not what I believe the Attorney General of the United States should be; I am embarrassed by Mr. Barr. I worry for America.
216
@Huge Grizzly Barr as AG under GHW Bush was part of the whitewash operation which closed the Contragate scandal. They were all pardon by the President. Barr is a supporter of a "Bonapartist" president or the Imperial Presidency. An all powerful President on whom the Congress has no right to keep him or her accountable for his action. A Congress which is reduced to basically doing the biding of the President without any right to supervise the executive. AG Barr like Nixon and Trump believes that the actions of the President are always legal, even when those actions are illegal if done by a private citizen.
10
@Wilbray Thiffault Those beliefs alone should preclude anyone from getting a Juris Doctorate, let alone ascending to the role of AG. The Republic is dead. Hail Caesar. Or something like that.
4
From the WSJ Editorial Board
Democrats and the press are making much of Mr. Horowitz’s conclusion that he “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation” influenced FBI decisions. But his report does show that political bias was conveyed to the FISA court from the Clinton campaign via the Steele dossier through the FBI.
It was conveyed by Bruce Ohr, a senior Justice Department official whose wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS. Mr. Horowitz may not have found a memo with the words “let’s get Trump,” but his evidence shows that getting Mr. Trump was the goal of Mr. Steele and Fusion GPS. Mr. Ohr met 13 times with the FBI to discuss the Steele findings.
Even if you buy the “no bias” line, all of this had major political consequences. Fusion GPS used its media contacts to spread word of the Steele dossier’s accusations, and news of the FBI’s use of that dossier became a media hook to suggest the accusations were credible. This became another part of the false Russia collusion narrative played up by the press...
Mr. Horowitz says Crossfire Hurricane investigators never verified any of the Steele dossier allegations against Mr. Page. Even a year after the first FISA warrant, in September 2017, the report says the FBI had only “corroborated limited information in the Steele election reporting.” Robert Mueller later spent two years looking for proof of collusion and found nothing, while the Trump Presidency was besieged.
14
I believe Mueller found plenty of evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians, which is in large part why Manafort is in prison. Mueller did not find evidence of conspiracy. The difference is that Trump’s campaign encouraged and made use of Russian interference, but did not tell them specifically how to interfere. They have the Russians their polling data to enable targeting of inflammatory facebook posts, but didn’t write the posts themselves.
14
@Eric Bittman Manafort is not in prison for crimes related to Trump or the Trump campaign.
7
He works for Putin. The President and his Republican enablers are working for Putin.
14
@Brandon
Yes, they all do. Most of them (recent convert is Ted Cruz) are all repeating Putin's talking points.
10
The FBI made a huge fundamental mistake, they did not do enough to protect our country and allowed a traitor to become president because Comey and the FBI leakers in New York were Republican and put party over country.
3
Putin got back Crimea, a former Russian territory. Perhaps he will get back Alaska for the same reason?
3
Laughable or a crying shame. The FBI used a fake dossier to gain a FISA warrant to spy on an American citizen and a political campaign. It wasn't sloppiness or poor oversight it was fraud.
Comey said he had no knowledge of the dossier. That is a lie. Brennan said he had no knowledge of the dossier. He lied under oath to Congress.
Take note, this ridiculous interpretation of the IG report is in the same newspaper which lied about "Russian Collusion" for almost 3 years.
Without the dossier there is no spying and without that their is no Russian hysterics and the entirely false "Russian Collusion" fraud that paralyzed our country and wasted enormous time, energy, and money. The Mueller report, which finally buried the hoax, still has not convinced those who have not come to grip with the 2016 election.
14
Read the comments and you can tell objective unbiased journalism is dead. Trump will be gone in 1 or 5 years but the damage to the press may never reverse. People, and the press in particular, know this deep down. Its not good.
13
Is the White House a place of worship for Trump?
Australian pilgrims according to the Guardian and The Australian report that:
Scott Morrison’s spiritual mentor, the Hillsong founder Brian Houston, has “prayed for president Trump” while on an official visit to the White House for a faith briefing with other religious leaders.
Brian was stum concerning investigations re his father's investigation concerning child abuse, unproven.
Brian was told his father fessed up re child abuse.
Last month NSW police confirmed an investigation into the matter remained open. The NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, told a NSW parliamentary committee last year that Houston had refused to be interviewed by police about his father’s confession.
Brian and Don have a weird view of compliance with legal ethics.
Never admit wrong, never speak to police and deny every allegation.
The pastor has direct direction from God who by default is above earthly law.
Very pre reformation.
Wow. A NYT headline that says something kinda supportive of Trump.
There should be a law against it.
Headlines like this will just encourage the Trump base. Which we all know would be the end to democracy. The only way to save democracy, is to only allow the TRUTH on the front pages of major sources of media. In other words, only Democrats' point of view...
8
What a surprise! Trump has been lying for the last three years.
10
I'm waiting for the day when William Barr claims he fought the good fight and took the hits so that our country would stay on an even keel. He's going to try to get the trump stink off him by claiming that by taking the low road he was really taking the high road — and he's the martyr.
3
I keep circling back to what Hillary Clinton said of Trump during one of the Presidential debates: "Trump is Putin's puppet."
Trump's addled, schoolyard rebuttal was dull, even by his low standards: "Not a puppet, not a puppet. You're the puppet."
Let's remember, as the Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013, Ms. Clinton was privy to the highest level of intelligence. Maybe she was trying to tell the public something that had a basis in fact in 2015, though she was unwilling to break her oath of secrecy so demurred from offering a full-blown, detailed accusation.
12
If I am to draw a conclusion from AG Barr's speech at Notre Dam in which he argued for authoritarianism and a return to Catholic values for all Americans, it is no surprise that he would reject the Horowitz report as it evidently challenges Trump's repeated but unproven allegations of conspiracy and sabotage to undermine him and thereby challenges the authority of the executive. AG Barr even implicitly accused Pope Francis of undermining the Catholic Church by admitting to cases of child abuse in the Church.
AG Barr's weltanschauung is so extreme I cannot see how he could be part of a secular government. He seemed more suited to a theocracy than a representative republic like the US because he believes in absolute authority derived from dogmatic infallibility.
Should be interesting.
12
A few things are painfully clear at this point:
1. Bill Barr should be impeached and put in prison. He has brazenly betrayed his role as the AG of our country.
2. Barr and Durham have been touring Europe together, bonding and getting ready to deliver the alternative reality report to the IG and other government reports based in objective reality. They have been begging and probably bribing any Euros they can to deliver a pro Trump narrative.
3.Barr is a total and complete disgrace as the AG of the USA.
4. Trump is a low level con from a half baked, tacky, mom and pop real estate business. He acts consistent with his limited vocabulary and spoiled and defiant history. He is a complete disgrace to the good name of the USA.
5. When objective reports come out like the IG report, he just hires more Juliannis to produce a counter report, to be reported on Fox propaganda network.
6. Trump should go to prison, but at minimum needs to be removed from office.
7. If Republicans refuse to do their duty, the official name of their party should be changed to "Putin's Puppets".
8
It’s is shocking - and incredibly telling - that Liberals find glee in an IG report that documents countless specific examples of misconduct by the FBI - because it was all against President Trump.
13
@Dr. John Did you read the comic book version of the IG report, or did you just watch Fox News & then race over here to comment?
2
Trump is constantly spewing vitriol about all Democrats being untrustworthy. Anyone who doesn't agree with him is untrustworthy. Anyone appointed or anything initiated by Obama is untrustworthy.
Andrew McCabe, Peter Strock, James Baker, Lisa Paige, Masha Yavonovitch, Fiona Hill, to name a few are people who have been threatened and harrassed by the mentally ill person in the oval office. Yet the FBI agents who were thrilled with Sec Clinton's loss have not been named or harrassed. I am not advocating that happen. I am pointing out another example of the abject, revolting hypocrisy and corruption of this administration. And the complicity of the GOP.
As an aside how interesting that Christopher Steele who has also been targeted is a friend of Ivanka...more likely former friend. Seems to be a family tradition that friendship doesn't mean a thing to the Trump's.
4
Any news talking head who referred to 'Russian talking points' today can safely be ignored for the remainder of their career.
When the memo comes out from HQ out west to say such-and-so, only non-professionals follow those orders.
I am old enough to remember when the lefty Times' readers actually cared about civil liberties and were wary of government over-reach. A government agency spying on American citizens (yes, spying. confidential informants using recording devices is spying), changing evidence, using dubious (at best) foreign operatives (and on and on) would have had Times readers up in arms. Not anymore.
Trump bad, so anything goes.
Pathetic.
10
Isn't it obvious. Ever since the 90s, Europe and North America has seen a rise in leftist views and immigration became encouraged. But all of a sudden, the Russians have started funding the campaigns of rightist parties (for example: US, UK, Poland) to deepen the political divide in Western democracies. They want to start revolutions, coups, or even worse a civil war. But other than Russia, who else does that stuff?
Oh right, America (the coups and wars in Iran, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Egypt, Yemen)
Russia has noticed this ever since the early 2000s and they've realized they need to fight fire with fire. It would be embarrassing if they beat you at your own game. Below are the reasons why the world's superpowers start coups/wars in other countries:
-To weaken them
-To get local contractors and companies to rebuild war torn places (which are war torn because of you)
-To increase the demand for arms to boost your firearm industry
This method of manipulation is beyond inhumane and completely unacceptable.
Dirty politics must come to an end and those guilty of genocide and engulfing the world in chaos to support their economic interests must be trialled.
2
It is obvious that that this “deep state going after Trump” meme has originated in Kremlin, as many right wing theories peddled on Fox and right wing radio. Trump’s affinity for these “theories” is either pathological or highly suspicious.
You can bet on Trump and his minions to keep digging (manufacturing) for evidence that will try to prove
‘Deep state” at least until elections. Their base won’t accept anything else.
5
Why does it matter what AG Barr thinks about the IG conclusions? He's a Trump political lackey who should have been recused from any involvement or dispute with the findings of the report.
2
Oh well, so much for responsible government bureaucrats engaged in law enforcement. Seemed like such a solid idea back when Hoover ran such a “clean” operation.
10
The first FISA warrant on Carter Page was applied for in October 2016, correct? One month prior to the election in November. At that point, the consensus was that Hillary was going to be the next POTUS.
We all know that's not the way things turned out. But my larger point is that the current occupant's latest rantings, based on this timing, are even more nonsensical. The case for Russian involvement began (actually began in July 2016) before the election was even held. How could the FBI have been involved in a plot to overturn an election that hadn't even happened yet and, which by all accounts, he was destined to lose?
Never let a good conspiracy theory go to waste, I says.
8
This is a quote from the report itself (page 376):
"We also found the quantity of omissions and inaccuracies in the applications and the obvious errors in the Woods Procedures deeply concerning. Although we did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of intentional misconduct on the part of the case agents who assisted in preparing the applications, or the agents and supervisors who performed the Woods Procedures, we also did not receive satisfactory explanations for the errors or missing information."
The Woods Procedures are the rules and regulations regarding evidentiary standards used to justify a support a spying request in our FISA courts.
This is a 'debunking of plots'? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence in general, but especially when the subject of an investigation would know the exact means and methods of any investigation into their behaviors.
This article is akin to running an article that the US Government has "debunked" any suggestion that Al Capone was involved in any murders since there was no "documentary or testimonial" evidence of such - which is why we were left to bring him down on tax evasion charges.
11
Barr ignores the inspector general's stated conclusion and declares, "The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken."
In his remarks on the Mueller report, Barr made the most of the leeway provided by Mueller's circumlocutory conclusion. He could have declared what the substance of the report made clear, but he did not.
This pattern of partisan reading is shameful. Such things may be routine for trial lawyers, but the attorney general is supposed to be more than a lawyer. He should at least remember that the president is not his client.
10
The Mueller report was very clear that the Trump candidacy knew of and appreciated Russian help in the election. Isn't that the sort of thing the FBI is supposed to investigate?
Now Barr wants to go back and say the investigation should never have been done?
15
@Sharon
It's how they investigated, including not giving a "defensive briefing" (i.e., telling the Trump campaign their concerns about Russian meddling)...
Did Trump make it up? Stand aside while they look for somebody else to blame.
2
So why have 25+ FBI agents either been fired or have resigned since the investigation began?
14
There are 30,000 FBI employees. Just sayin’
2
@Dr. John
Shocking how many of these guilty parties were on the Mueller team.
Comey should be hanging his head in shame. Mueller, too. This behavior must have been perfectly acceptable to them all.
2
The winner of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections will be the same person - Vladimir Putin. He has the political mind of Bismarck combined with the heart of Genghis Khan. He understands the American cultural divide better than many Americans do. He’s playing us for chumps and winning.
18
This is the second time Horowitz has documented. misconduct by the FBI, but tried to whitewash it by stating that there was no documentary or testimonial evidence of political bias. Of course, none of the culprits admitted in writing or statement that what they did was based on political bias. People seldom declare their corrupt motives, which is why the law provides that motive can be inferred from the circumstances. The political bias of many in the Obama FBI and Justice Department is well documented. Remember, they vowed in official correspondence to stop Trump, and if that did not work to have a Plan B. It requires either colossal naivete or a dangerous commitment to protecting the deep state to believe that all the documented FBI misconduct is completely unrelated to all the documented FBI political bias.
13
“People seldom declare their corrupt motives which is why the law provides that motive can be inferred from the circumstances.”
You mean kind of like: “He said there is no quid pro quo so there’s no quid pro quo.”
You walked directly into that one.
9
@Chares
"there was no documentary or testimonial evidence"
On the other hand, that hasn't stopped the impeachment of president Trump.
Are we losing sight of the big picture here? Attorney General Barr is laying the groundwork for Donald Trump to have a free hand to interfere in the 2020 election. And the 'reforms' that the FBI director has pledged to make- will those further tie the hands of the FBI in monitoring activity similar to 2016? Because that is obviously what Trump is going to be engaged in. Should he be on the ballot, which is very likely.
And as regards to:
"the inquiry was a rushed and dysfunctional process..."
- is there any acknowledgment that the rules may need to be different when election cheating is involved? I hope we have realized by now that getting a report two years after the election is over (or no report, in the case of FBI counter-terrorism) doesn't exactly help the American people to make the right decisions at the polls. How do we address the need to report potential violations in real time? Even if there is an element of uncertainty? That seems to me to be a big hole in our process, we don't have any referees other than the press.
11
The headline should lead with the most relevant detail first - Report debunks Trump FBI conspiracy theory. The rest is of no consequence to what started the investigation.
22
Vilification is the easiest defense "out-of-the-shoot" strategy...after the discovery period then the hard facts fall under the tree and the fruit pickers scramble to name the variety of choice. No matter what the outcome is, the President will be held accountable. There are no fruits named after him...except rotten to the core!
9
@rford - - - I think we can all expect 2020 to be The Year of Durham.
That U.S. Att'y has already hinted that people today's report ignored are firmly in Durham's sights regarding criminal indictments.
Oh, as of today's hearings, Jerry Nadler has now brrn accused of treason, if I understood that first guy correctly.
When has a Congressional Committee allowed friends or funders of their campaigns to make a cameo during hearing to ask questions in front of the cameras?
Oh, man! Now's when I wish the Times was still a legit newspaper! It once covered stuff like this.
2
“It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory.”
William Barr - Dec. 9, 2019
The I.G. investigation was about the process used for the opening of the 2016 FBI investigation of the Trump campaign and not a rehash of the Mueller investigation . Why then you may ask is Mr. Barr repeating his false summary of the Mueller investigation?
Yes, that was a rhetorical question.
There is another statement by William Barr today that you will never hear on Fox News or from the GOP because they want MAGA supporters to believe the false allegation that the FBI opened the investigation based on the so called Steele Dossier and/or the Carter Page FISA warrant as opposed to the truth, which was an alert from Australia's Prime Minister.
"The Inspector General found the only information relied on to open the FBI's counter-intelligence investigation was supplied by a friendly foreign government (FFG). I want to emphasis that this FFG did the right thing in supplying that information..."
William Barr - Dec. 9, 2019
10
In addition to everything else we now spend taxpayer money proving Trump's ridiculous conspiracy theories are wrong.
32
Evidence of bias is the actions themselves. You don't doctor up applications for the most serious of warrants for no reason, none of this was accidental or incompetent. It was intentional and very carefully engineered. From the BBC:
"The inspector general identified 17 "significant inaccuracies or omissions" when the FBI applied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) for surveillance warrants to monitor Mr Page's communications.
Mr Horowitz wrote that the errors resulted in "applications that made it appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case".
The watchdog also found that an FBI lawyer assigned to the Russia case doctored an email from the CIA to a colleague that was used in an application from the bureau to monitor Mr Page.
The attorney "altered an email that the other US government agency had sent" with the effect that "the email inaccurately stated that Page was 'not a source' for the other agency", the report said.
The watchdog also found FBI personnel "fell far short of the requirement in FBI policy that they ensure that all factual statements in a Fisa application are 'scrupulously accurate'".
The report said "so many basic and fundamental errors... raised significant questions regarding the FBI chain of command's management and supervision of the Fisa process"."
17
Do you believe the IG, appointed by Barr, or not? They did a thorough investigation and concluded there was no bias, and politics weren’t involved. How come you cherry pick the conclusions you like but ignore the others? That’s a rhetorical question.
4
So you are reaching conclusions that the Inspector General has not?
6
Way to pick them cherries. I trust this was today’s whole Hannity?
4
Protect the nation from the miscreants cloaked as politicians. They hover in hopes of creating a nest from which to infect the nation with a corrupt device.
2
The only ‘report’ that matters is the investigation being conducted by Mr Durham.
Expect Dems and ‘progressives’ to attempt to destroy the man soon.
9
I think Trump and Barr are doing a great job discrediting Durham already.
8
@EGD Right, Mr. Barr will keep ordering investigations until he gets the “correct” outcome, Soviet style.
7
Can we please stop pretending that there was no political bias motivating the various agencies in their investigations into and surveillance of the Trump campaign and administration.
Everybody knows that there was bias and overreach, so why deny it?
18
@Susanna Because it's a dubious claim.
6
@Susanna Because the IG just released an extensive report, after two years of investigation, proving exactly the opposite.
As for your claims that "everybody knows that there was bias and overreach," all I can say is reading is your friend. You might want to try it sometime...
1
Trump's critics are so eager to exonerate the investigators and prove the allegations were "conspiracy theories" that they're giving a pass to some highly questionable actions.
A very low standard required to initiate an investigation of Americans combined with unethical wiretapping of them should concern all Americans.
15
Nothing in the IGs report said anything like that, of course, but I for one will take you seriously—it’s important to listen to folks who’ve proven themselves experts in such matters as low standards and unethical behavior.
8
@AACNY
Yet it's Trump's conspiracy theories that have been debunked by an investigation demanded by Trump. You are grasping at straws.
8
While the report seems to emphasize that the original intent wasn't criminal, it certainly clarified that it changed to a criminal action when the FISA court was lied to, deliberately so. The people who signed off on the application knew that the dossier was bogus, yet they hid that from the court and presented it as if it were actual and proven evidence. That is a crime.
15
That Republicans have the audacity to question the motivations of these investigations and the impeachment hearings when our very republic is threatened is revolting to me. In light of their relentless pursuit of conspiracy theories surrounding the Clintons and President Obama, it makes their whining about "fairness" ring all the more hallow. The Democrats are doing precisely what they should be doing. President Obama was right to take a calculated approach to threats in 2016 given the political sensitivity of the events and the election. The FBI was sloppy. It doesn't negate the facts of what occurred nor does it abrogate what is well-known about Trump's modus operandi.
16
We will have to wait for details of what Durham learned in Italy and the U. K. and elsewhere, but I would suggest it’s time to step back and apply Occam’s Razor, i. e., common sense.
An investigation about which nothing occurred went on for years. What started it? It could have been an accident, though I’m not sure how. It could have been a trigger of some unknown sort, but a “low bar,” as Horowitz infers. Or it could have been deception. Whatever it was—it was wrong. It will take strong men like Durham and Barr, not an obfuscater like Horowitz, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
14
President Donald J. Trump has openly lied again for two years and should offer a apology to our intelligence agencies. All points lead to Russia.
Don’t hold your breath!
15
Funny. You would think the president would be relieved that our FBI didn't act in a hostile or partisan manner. Strange that he's not, no?
16
The only way Democrats are going to win the propaganda war is by continually repeating the truth rather than just refuting the Trump administration’s lies which are intended to confuse and exhaust a weary public. That’s why I hope the House doesn’t rush to complete the impeachment process. It’s the only tool to this point that has effectively kept Trump on the defensive.
9
The FISA Court is ultimately responsible and needs to be reorganized or abolished. There is absolutely no excuse for allowing the FBI to get away with such slipshod practices. Is it a little club?
14
@Edward
The real test will be whether there are significant changes to the FISA process. Until then, we're all at risk.
6
@Edward
Ivanka and Christopher Steele met near Trump tower to discuss ‘business’. It’s a club.
8
So, a group of people robbed a bank (let's call them Russia) and a second group knew they were robbing the bank, did nothing to stop or report them, and were thusly rewarded (let's call them Team Trump). Russia manages to flee the country and escape justice. Team Trump, meanwhile, pleads innocence and aggressively assails police investigators. Eventually the local attorney general declines to prosecute the leader of Team Trump, who has been trying to shut down the entire investigation, instead prosecuting Team Trump members, mostly for lying and for crimes unrelated to the robbery.
Then an odd thing happens. The investigators themselves are investigated. Almost nobody argues that the robbery didn't happen. Nobody says Team Trump didn't know about it, cheer on Russia and keep it quiet. And yet Team Trump, thanks to their proximity to the bosses of the investigators, muddies the water, making it seem to some that the real crime was biased and corrupt investigators.
A real crime occurred. Team Trump eagerly benefited and did nothing to report it. Donald Trump actively sought to interfere with, and even stop, the investigation into the crime he benefited from. And now, shamefully, he tries to benefit politically from the investigation of the investigators.
25
@Jon
Two "little" problem with your story:
1) When Russia was "robbing the bank", Trump was a private citizen. It was the government at the time that knowingly chose not to act, not private citizen Trump.
2) The Mueller report found Trump's campaign in no way coordinated with the Russian government in spite of multiple offers of assistance from Russian-affiliated individuals.
7
I remain puzzled by an absence of discussion about
the sources in Russia of trump's financing post '08-09. Would that not have been looked into by the FBI as a way of
making sense or giving context to what was being picked
up from other sources? So far I've not seen any
commenting about this...
9
Using copy and paste, I found this article contains 1,871 words. The sections of the article that report findings of fault with the FBI comprise 969 words. Over 50% of this article’s content skews badly against the investigators.
Much of the rest contains statements from presumably partisan sources, such as Trump, Comey, and Barr, which can be discounted as opinion.
Bottom line is that a lot of the unhinged hysterics over the last three years has been ill-conceived. And less of it than we’d like to think has come from Trump.
5
First off, the point’s simple: while the FBI was sloppy around the edges and that needs fixing, it was an honest enquiry, begin honestly, that reached a conclusion contradicting everything Trump’s been braying.
Second off, a word count’s pointless; nobody’s impressed with the “number,” when all you really need is, “about half.” It’s just there to sound official.
16
@Robert
17 counts of misconduct and criminal activity is not just 'sloppy'. Sorry, but lying to the FISA court is a crime. Modifying interview memos is a crime.
17 counts is not an accident any more than a person caught in 17 robberies is just a wild coincidence and not at all an indication that he's a crook.
5
@DZ
I guess? But without Trump, you have no Barr. Without Trump you have no crimes. Without Trump, you have democracy. So yeah, it is about Trump.
4
So, virtually everything Trump has claimed about this process was a baldfaced lie. Other than that, it was completely true, right?
14
The most salient part of this report is that the investigation was justified and NOT commenced on a whim, politically-motivated or otherwise. That protocols were not always meticulously followed to strict department guidelines is not unsurprising when many people were engaged in an investigation that was anything but routine. It is disheartening to read and hear so much of the media coverage of this drawing a sort of "both sides" conclusion. The inside protocols that were not always adhered to does not rise to nearly the same degree of importance as does the validation of the investigation in the first place and it's clear lack of political bias underlying it.
14
Great! Now let’s probe the probers of the probe.
15
It’s the false equivalencies and the fact that Trump’s base will buy them that is so astounding.
Some minor errors by the FBI become the same thing as I want you to do me a favor.
Trump gets caught on the phone call so he and his minions say what about the Democrats.
Trump makes it out like Obama had ordered the FBI to spy on him and now a couple of minor errors in a complex investigation are a coup.
And PBS, CBS, the Times and WAPO are down in the weeds of the IG report instead of reporting that there is no equivalence, and that this is just Trump trying to distract us from his crime.
16
@Coureur des Bois
"Some minor errors by the FBI become the same thing as I want you to do me a favor."
What he said was: "I want you to do me a favor THOUGH."
"THOUGH" is the tell.
I understand why you may have omitted it, because reporters do this all the time. Just as they claim Trump wanted an investigation of Biden -- no, he wanted an *announcement* of an investigation. Because he knew there was nothing to investigate! Just as they love fancy terms like "quid pro quo" or its English equivalent "bribery," when the actual misconduct was far more serious: extortion.
In every case reporters, and often Congressional investigators as well, use language that soft-pedals the crimes.
I will never understand why they seem to want to do Trump's bidding here.
5
Steele said he was friendly with Ivanka Trump. He also said that those pesky Russians had something on Trump after a stay in a Moscow hotel.
Why is Trump and Barr revisiting all of this?
11
Amazing all mistakes were made in one direction, all to the detriment of Donald Trump. Truly amazing, like flipping a coin many times and expecting a 50/50 chance of heads or tails, these “mistakes” all came up one hundred percent one way. The FBI was playing with loaded dice.
24
Even more amazing: that Trumpists glance in the general direction of a report in an investigative process that looked at a whole slew of people, and conclude that Trump’s the only one who matters a bit.
There’s something really sick about that.
Not to mention that there’s no evidence of bias changing anything, especially after the people who shot their mouths off got canned.
9
The doj is run by the President so they were looking for those loaded dice. Unfortunately for Trump, they couldn’t find any bias.
3
@Jerry Davenport Everything's a conspiracy, right?
1
Wow. We have become a Banana Republic when our own government can spy on political campaigns....with complete impunity.
31
It wasn’t with “complete impunity.” How do you get this from reading the article? It was adequately predicated.
3
@BO Krause
As the Report stated, there was no "spying" on any campaign.
But nice attempt at spinning....
4
The report said there was no “spying.” Get your head out if the Fox News bubble.
By the way, impunity is the word I would use for Trump's blatant attempts to extort Ukraine for his political benefit. But you have no problem with that level of presidential abuse of power.
4
Barr and Durham have presented no facts to back up their "view" countering Inspector General Horowitz's conclusion that the FBI's investigation of some Trump campaign people in 2016 was properly predicated. This is the same fact-free "opinion" approach Barr used when he expressed his "views" summarizing the Mueller report before (and after) it was released.
12
@John Sawyer
The facts underlying the opinions of Durham and Bar, if they exist, will come out when Mr. Durham finishes his investigation and issues his report.
1
@John Sawyer Your honest mistake was expecting that Barr and Durham might show some non-partisan integrity at last. Very kind, even noble; but clearly a mistake. These guys are not servants of the people as one would hope; they are merely the cowardly sycophants of the Republican Party.
1
Nunes in all appearances committed a crime and is trying to cover his tracks. What crimes has Barr committed for displaying the same behavior? Trump’s White House is looking more and more like a criminal organization so sure in its power that it can now operate in daylight.
17
Barr does not care what his own Inspector General says.
Barr is just going to keep lying, because that's what Trump told him to do.
All of the other Republicans will just keep repeating the same lies also.
They know that if they don't keep lying and protecting Trump, they will lose control of the White House and the Senate in the 2020 elections.
They are not ready to give up POWER yet.
They still have more Federal Judges they want to appoint, and they're still watching Judge Ginsberg's health, the way a vulture watches a wounded animal.
16
Barr is holding on to get that nomination to the next Supreme Court seat.
1
We need to investigate the investigator who wants to investigate the investigator's investigation of the investigation.
7
A decent headline: "Serious errors but no political bias...."
If you read through, the facts are presented. And yet, from Barr:
“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr, a close ally of President Trump who has begun his own re-investigation of the Russia inquiry, said in a statement.
Rather like his gloss of the Mueller report. And, nevertheless, Trump re-sings his refrain about the Russia investigations as a coup.
Now, will his supporters echo his tune? If so, how do you nicely tell a (however decreasing) swath of the public that they keep misunderstanding -- downright getting wrong; this isn't a matter of interpretation!--the facts in the real news stories?
5
When will the investigation of Jim Kallstrom and Rotten Rudy allied with the right wing fbl agents in NYC who were after Hilary start.
12
I doubt this report will change anyone’s mind. Those of us in the ‘reality-based community’ still believe Trump is delusional and Barr is a criminal. The members of ‘Cult 45’ still believe all of this is a deep state plot...
15
“Many of the problems Mr. Horowitz identified centered on its use of the Steele dossier, which his report portrayed as “essential” to establishing for the FISA court that investigators had probable cause to suspect that Mr. Page was an agent of a foreign power.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard Democrats arguing (based off their intuition?) that the dubious Steele was inconsequential and irrelevant. Looks like they were wrong.
15
@Jon
And I don't know how many times I've heard Republicans arguing (based on "alternative facts") that the whole thing was a Deep State witch-hunt. Looks like you're wrong.
2
In paragraph ten the article says that the report was NOT predicated on the Steele dossier. Please read more closely.
1
So Carter Page was a CIA source and this fact was not available to the FISA court because the FBI falsified a record. I don’t care about conspiracy theories but anyone who cares about civil liberties has to be shocked by this
20
@PeterC
Oh, they would be plenty outraged if the FBI had tapped Huma Abedin's mom, and used her to hold Huma under surveillance to get to Hillary's campaign.
Before you ask, yes there is plenty circumstantial evidence to monitor Abedin's mom on counter-terrorism grounds. She runs a very controversial Saudi school (extolling the usual Medieval virtues) and edits the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. There she argues that the US deserved 9/11 because of sanctions and injustices perpetrated by he US against the Muslim word.
4
what? I thought we already knew this! All that money that could... build a wall.. being wasted!
3
Since Republicans investigated Benghazi 9 times, will they be taking another 5 kicks at this particular can?
16
Does it really matter what truth is when voters don’t care about the facts. Republicans deny facts and their constituents don’t know the difference. I certainly didn’t expect this and can’t explain it. All the talk is about positioning for next election without much thought for morality has saddened me. Do what is right even if one looses the election in 2020.
11
The FBI are on the ground as always. And investigators in Pensacola. Grateful for any government agency that is looking for the truth. At the expense of their jobs and decades of government service and experience.
8
What is truly astonishing is how Trump twists the conclusions of this report to support himself, and claim big conspiracy: "I hope no future president has to go through this." Of course, his supporters will not (be able to?) read the actual report.
If Trump claimed a conspiracy against him by little green men, NASA would then be compelled to spend years on an investigation and crafting a 400-pg report, and Trump's response would be, Ah HA!
11
None of this matters.
All Dems will vote to impeach, in House and in Senate. All Republicans will vote not to impeach. He'll be impeached but not removed, and Republicans will continue to go to the mat for their king.
All that matters are the voters in a handful of states next November. Dems must find a way to reach those people, and it is not through these proceedings.
9
The headline for this story is somewhat muddled. The words "mistakes and serious errors" seem misplaced in the headings of the story. The conclusion of the report is that it exonerates the FBI. Things alluded to as mistakes and errors may have been included in the report to appease Trump and his enablers.
8
No deep state conspiracy? So the FBI was protecting the United States against Russian election interference and counter-intelligence threats all along. Most of us already knew this and saw it confirmed in the 30+ indictments from the FBI and Mueller investigations.
But since the “deep state” is such a good bogeyman for Trump and Republicans, they’ll find another fantasy to keep their base outraged. Or just ignore the facts and double down.
14
Maybe the reason the FBI doesn’t like Trump is because he is a criminal. Maybe the reason why people are Never Trumpers is because they don’t like him. Maybe the reason people hate Trump is because he is actually bad. I know it is hard logic for Republicans to follow, since they are generally uneducated, but some people just don’t like him for a reason.
47
There is a difference between disliking and hating. It is possible to be appalled and disgusted and horrified at what someone did without hating that someone. The word “hate” is being tossed around a lot these days. Let’s let the Proud Boys and the Charlottesville tiki torch marchers claim hate but let’s stop applying it to people who simply disagree with us about something important - like Trump.
2
Trump doesn’t just “simply disagree with me about something important,” as you claim. Trump is a truly abominable human being at every level. He has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I don’t know anyone more disgusting than him.
Why are taxpayers responsible for paying the salary of Trump's personal defender---AG Barr??
34
Now that he's done with the report perhaps Mr. Horowitz should start looking into the dubious activities of the Attorney General.
27
barr is an embarrassment to the legal profession. He should be impeached and disbarred.
39
Attorney General Bill Barr should have recused himself in the Russian/Mueller investigation. But he didn’t. Now, the United States Attorney General is acting as Donald trump’s personal lawyer, just like Rudy. Trump clearly committed bribery with the president of Ukraine by asking for political favours on July 25th, 2019 phone call. Trump and all republicans in collusion with Russia must be removed immediately. America’s democracy is in danger and must be protected from trump and all republicans.
31
"...It quoted text messages celebrating his surprise electoral win, including one by an agent who later explained to the inspector general that he was glad Mrs. Clinton lost because “I didn’t want a criminal in the White House...” As they say, "Be careful what you wish for". The Clintons are pikers in comparison, and were never suspected of being in the pay or under the sway of foreign governments hostile to US interests.
22
Horowitz is a life time federal employee and will not throw his fellows under the bus. Just as well as we have more than enough political theater for a lifetime.
12
Mistakes?
Falsifying documents is NOT a mistake. It is MISCONDUCT.
I am afraid that under Comey the FBI was lowered to a deceitful and crooked establishment.
30
@RMM
You got some evidence?
7
@Max Deitenbeck,
Yes: falsification of documents is a criminal act.
8
And how would you qualify the Trump administration? What adjectives would you use?
9
The ignorance of conservatives when they are elected to Congress; little do they seem to understand that Washington D.C. could be a hotbed for spies from Russia, China and other countries and the possibility of an elected Member could be compromised or willing to spy for those countries. How the FBI, CIA and other services have to be on the lookout for such people or be criticized for not doing their job. Unfortunately the Democrats seemingly don't have a clue either. Somebody has to be watching out for us in the free world.
4
Mr. Horowitz apparently takes the DOJ and FBI to task for the incredibly sloppy work done on the warrants on Mr. Page and offers suggestion for improvement. There must also be requirements that the FISA judges, overseen by Chief Justice Roberts, give each of these warrant applications a complete and thorough examination. Information publicly available shows that almost none of these applications are turned down, and if the sloppiness described by Mr. Horowitz is the rule rather than the exception, it is possible that many warrants have been issued to surveil thousands of Americans likely in violation of their rights to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution.
12
The fever dreams of Trump supporters will be powerful tonight. It's almost a contest among them as to who can sound more desperate or insane.
20
The wheels of justice move rather slow, but soon enough justice will be served.
"The world is round not flat"
4
United States Attorney John Durham responded to Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz’s report. He issue a statement that “I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff. However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”
7
@William Case
Clearly, it's not over. Those celebrating an "exoneration" are doing so too soon.
8
John Durham feels differently...the statement his office released after the IG report was released:
“I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff. However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”
This statement from his office is quite unusual.
The purview of Durham is much larger than the IG's.
He has information that the IG had no authority to obtain.
You can be sure there will be indictments and fresh info. since it is now not an inquiry but a criminal investigation
15
Political posturing on all sides notwithstanding, one thing that every observer should be able to agree on is that the sloppy, rubber-stamp FISA oversight process needs revision. FISA judges are in-house flunkies who simply go with the agency flow, much like the current generation of immigration judges. FISA decisions should be made subject to some sort of independent review mechanism.
19
@woofer
Great. Doesn't change the evidence they found against Trump, which is probably what really upsets you. Or is it the fact that the conspiracy you hope existed is nothing more than a Trump fantasy?
21
@Max Deitenbeck The chickens will come home to roost. Don't celebrate yet.
"Mr. Trump’s persistent attacks have nonetheless already damaged the bureau’s reputation."
Sorry, who did damage the bureau’s reputation?
20
@areader
Trump. Pay attention to facts and not Fox and you will figure it out.
17
I absolutely detest Trump, but I can't help but feeling there are many layers to this story beneath the official narrative.
So we are being told that the application for a FISA warrant investigating a member of a major presidential campaign was deeply flawed, with content bordering on fraudulent, and we have text messages between prominent FBI agents showing deep hatred of the man, but that none of this is evidence of institutional opposition to Trump within the FBI.
I am happy to believe that conclusion, but how exactly was it drawn?
22
@Josue Moreno
Sadly, it was not borderline fraudulent, but apparently explicitly so. That attorney is likely to face prosecution.
The most important thing Trump has ever said is, “if they can do this to me, with all my resources, imagine what they could do to you.” We don’t have to like Trump to find caution there worth heeding.
8
It was not deeply flawed. The IG thought that there was sufficient evidence for seeking a warrant. Barr, of course, disagrees because he is Trump's personal lawyer.
3
One only needs to look at the Fox News comment section to see how Trumpsters are comprehending this news, not much. For those educated and paying attention, the story is clear; the initiation of the FBI's inquiry was due to Trump and Trump's campaign alone. For the deluded and ignorant, the world is a conspiratorial place where the Inspector General's report only proves the tentacles of the 'mysterious' deep state extends everywhere. Of course if this same report by the IG was in Trump's favor, they would be shouting it at the mountain tops.
I have become increasingly disillusioned throughout this presidency. It is clear to me that the 35-40% of people who steadfastly support our President have very low levels of reading comprehension (if they do at all) and exhibit a significant gap in critical thinking skills. I don't know what the solution is to change their minds, but all we can do is vote against their visceral mindset.
27
Depressing, but so true.
We need to vote trump and the republicans out in 2020 like our democracy depends on it - because it does.
11
@Alex
There must be a massive effort to get out the vote in November. We already know the oligarchs, foreign and domestic, will pull out all stops to keep their man in power.
3
“That so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate, handpicked teams on one of the most sensitive F.B.I. investigations that was briefed to the highest levels within the F.B.I., and that F.B.I. officials expected would eventually be subjected to close scrutiny, raised significant questions regarding the F.B.I. chain of command’s management and supervision of the FISA process,” the report said. If that is not an endorsement of a job well done by the FBI I don’t know what is.
12
The FBI would have been guilty of malfeasance and dereliction of duty if they failed to investigate the Trump campaign for its possible connection to Russia. The campaign is full of suspicious people like Manafort, Gates, Stone, and, especially, Page. These people and Don, Jr. meet with Russians in Trump Tower--and don't report it. Trump, himself, seems to welcome the Russian intervention in his campaign. And he never criticizes Putin. Ever. We also know, and so does the FBI, that Trump has been selling real estate to Russian oligarchs, and is eager for a Trump Tower in Moscow. They also know that Putin has an active and widespread disinformation campaign going on behalf of Trump. And all this is unprecedented for any presidential campaign. This seems to me that the FBI was doing its job, protecting us from the intelligence services of hostile powers. Sadly, what the IG report says to me is that they didn't protect us very well.
18
"....The exhaustive report by an independent official is likely to stand as a definitive accounting of the F.B.I.’s actions in the early stages of the Russia investigation..."
Not so fast.
AG Barr is already disputing key findings and this report is likely to be consigned to dustbin of history as Mueller.
Increasingly, it appears that the whole DC machinery is against the POTUS and they will do everything to destroy him.
I could not help but chuckle when the story here said IG concludes "mistakes were made."
It brought back that famous phrase of Watergate.
William Safire, in his Safire's Political Dictionary, devoted an entry to the oft-used phrase — describing it as "a passive-evasive way of acknowledging error while distancing the speaker from responsibility for it."
I rest my case that this IG report is yet another attempt to distance establishment from its responsibility.
And it is a joke that a low level FBI lawyer who does not work there any longer - has been fingered for prosecution.
What about these heads who approved these wire taps in the first place??
19
Interesting that they discover 17 “mistakes” but do not detail the Who, What and Why they were made...the intent and more importantly the check and balance system within the FBI that failed to have a “mistake proof” process at the senior levels that should have asked the probing questions to verify the integrity of the information given the gravity of the investigation...
Doesn’t smell right to me...
10
The FISA court?
That's right folks, it's 'spying' when the FBI wiretaps someone suspected of dealing with foreign intelligence agencies, but asking China and Russian to investigate your political opponents on live TV is 'legitimate foreign policy'.
39
@Mr. Adams
Or just a carnival barker mouthing off. Do you think if Trump had called on them not to hack Hillary’s emails, they would have refrained?
2
Shocker! The cops were sloppy in getting a warrant and a Judge approved it. Happens every single day in the US to innocent folks. In this case, Page and the rest of the cabal are far from innocent.
31
Falsifying documents to get a warrant is not sloppy. It is criminal and should result in disbarment of the lawyer or lawyers involved.
19
@BecauseTruth
If that happened, but even Barr's sycophantic investigation couldn't come up with anything.
8
Delay. Delay. Delay. This was a sideshow to derail Democrats. Delay some more Mr. President. Worry not about due process. Executive Privilege and all, right? You the man! The Authoritarian Man.
7
The antithesis of best practices all the way around.
8
The FBI and the Obama Administration kept quiet about the investigation of Trump's collusion with the Russians in 2016. Meanwhile, the FBI made public its investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails. When Comey announced the fact that the result of the Clinton investigation was that no charges against Clinton were justified, he went against FBI protocols to criticize Clinton, but also appear before Congress to allow Republicans to pile on Clinton. Then, as if that weren't enough, he sent a public letter out saying that he was re-opening the investigation against Clinton, only to close it right up against the election. If the FBI were so prejudiced against Trump, why would they keep the the investigation against him secret, while the investigation against Clinton was well-publicized, including Comey's outrageous departure policy that when no charges are found, the FBI doesn't comment on the facts and opinions of the director of the FBI.
If anyone had reason to complain about the FBI's behavior in the 2016 election, it would be Hillary Clinton. President Trump was aided greatly by the FBI's actions in 2016.
30
@jas2200 The FBI kept the investigation of Trump secret because they didn't want him to know he was under investigation, obviously. Why warn him? They warned the DNC that the Russians were trying to hack them, but they never warned Trump that Carter Page might be working for the Russians.
3
@Jas2200
Exactly. Just what I have been thinking.
3
@Childe Roland: The point is that the FBI didn't warn the voters before the election that Trump and his campaign were under investigation for their colluding with Russians. It wasn't just Carter Page that was colluding either.
2
The United States simply cannot get the act together, can it?
Nothing should keep having these questionable results.
Come clean.
1
Barr has a very special ability to make any document say what he wants it to say. "Investigators uncovered “no documentary or testimonial evidence” that political bias affected how officials conducted the investigation." Individuals made mistakes. There was no conspiracy. Yet Bar says, "“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.” Too bad he doesn't work for the American people instead of Trump. Even sadder is that we are the ones paying his salary.
19
The Schiff rule means the investigations never end. This is far from over.
4
As I have written here and elsewhere, FISA warrants are often called "umbrella warrants" for a reason. A FISA warrant allows electronic surveillance not only of the target, in this case Carter Page, but also of the target's contacts, which in this case, could be Paul Manafort, for example. But the FISA warrant doesn't stop there. It also provides for surveillance of the contacts of all those contacts, such as Donald Trump, Jr., Jared and Ivanka Kushner, Eric Trump, Gen. Kelly, and also Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway. Note that the surveillance not only goes forward, but also allows searches of databases going back long enough to capture all communications of the Trump team from the beginning of the Trump campaign.
None of these characters are popular here and, with the possible exception of Mr. Page, for good reasons. But think of all the other people who could have been surveilled with this one warrant, be they minor players in the Trump world, or ordinary citizens. The number of people surveilled could easily reach several thousand.
12
For people like me, who won't read beyond a sentence or two, the availability of this report is of no importance. What I need is for Trump to Tweet that he's not only the most innocent man alive, but the greatest victim of the deep state.
15
Can we please stop paying Barr's salary and benefits? He is Trump's lawyer and I'm tired of paying him. Same goes for Stephanie Grisham who never ever gives a press conference, who does nothing but go on FOX. Why are we paying her?
These people are intolerable. They're beyond corrupt and liars all. I hope they are all vamoosed in 2021 and we get some actual professionals who love all of America, not just Republicans.
25
So the FBI isn't evil after all, just incompetent. Some legacy, Director Comey.
19
I’m sure I’ve made many mistakes in my research and my reports. It doesn’t make me incompetent.
4
@Vivien Hessel
Your research and reports for what? Academic work or the latest celebrity fads in So Cal?
If you're an academic, repeatedly making mistakes does in fact make you incompetent.
There's a reason that graduate schools discard applicants with poor GPAs. People who make mistakes on tests and evaluations cannot be trusted to produce high quality research.
4
@Vivien Hessel
Did you ever falsify any research? Withhold contradictory information?
3
I don’t think this report will stop Trump from mocking Lisa Page, Strzok or McCabe.
He can’t be cured from pathological hatred.
15
What a huge surprise!
Not.
6
This is easy. The IG is an independent actor whose work is protected by law. The IG Report, therefore, is a credible and thorough analysis of the events in question. On the other hand, the report commissioned by the AG and assigned to a hand-picked subordinate is less than independently derived. In point of fact, the AG is taking an unusually active and personal role in the investigation and apparently preparation of the report to be released sometime in future. As such, it will be less than credible or thorough and bias is already evident. The IG’s report — which includes recommendations for future use — is the only analysis that deserves attention.
8
@John A. Figliozzi
Perhaps we should read both the Horowitz report and the upcoming Durham report before we cast too many aspersions on either gentleman.
2
Exactly. The Durham report was commissioned and furthered by Barr, who went to extraordinary steps to make trips to Australia and Italy in its favor. Bias is obviously baked in. And there’s already evidence: Durham’s “disagreement,” as if anyone had asked him for it.
This investigation was unnecessary but Trump had to be humored. Barr is determined to present the public with a report that convinces the public that civil service system has been replaced with a political patronage system, and the the government only serves the Party in power. That pretty much means that our democracy is already extinct and we might as well consider no laws apply except for those in power decide apply.
6
The investigation was only unnecessary if no political bias was discovered. However, we probably already knew all that we wanted to know about incompetence at the FBI.
1
@John Bowman
Barr is a wily and unethical guy. He represented Mueller's Report the way Trump wanted, openly, but he later delivered a redacted report which reported something very different. That's a guy who is counting on first impressions to leading to an understanding of the circumstances which facts cannot dispel. He's pulling the same stunt, now.
3
Some quotes from the report:
“FBI personnel fell far short of the requirement in FBI policy that they ensure that all factual statements in a FISA application are ‘scrupulously accurate.’ We identified multiple instances in which factual assertions relied upon in the first FISA application were inaccurate, incomplete, or unsupported”
“That so many basic and fundamental errors were made by three separate, hand- picked teams on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations that was briefed to the highest levels within the FBI, and that FBI officials expected would eventually be subjected to close scrutiny, raised significant questions regarding the FBI chain of command’s management and supervision of the FISA process.”
It’s enormously sad how many people - including James Comey - consider this report a favorable development. It makes one wonder what the threshold might be for Times Nation to actually be outraged at the extent of deception revealed by this report. 17 different lies or concealment of facts. Ken Lay and Lew Libby went to jail for far less.
18
I tend to agree with you re Libby; as a former registered investment advisor I did 20 -30 hours of research to try to determine where clients might have cause to sue re Enron and I can say with a high degree of confidence that Ken Lay fully deserved what he got. He was a knowing part of a conspiracy to defraud both individuals and state governments and was certainly legally and morally responsible. His actions ruined lives.
2
@Patrick Gleeson
I think the point here is that due process and proper procedure should be paramount to precisely the people you don't like and aren't sympathetic towards.
Very few "nice" and "sympathetic" people get themselves in predicaments where they wind up on FISA warrants or indirectly surveilled.
It strains credulity that 17 acts of misconduct are totally random and had nothing to do with the clear animosity towards the subjects and the subject matter.
It's also worth pointing out that there is no explanation for the unmasking activity by Susan Rice and Samantha Power.
6
The IG report (page 413) found no evidence that “political bias or improper motivation” entered into the FBI’s decision to launch the investigation of the Trump campaign, but it also find “significant inaccuracies and omissions” that “made it appear as if the evidence supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case.”
Attorney General Barr praised the report. He said the report makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory. Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration."
7
We have heard much during these impeachment hears that "no man is above the law." If that's true then this IG report is making a mockery of it.
First of all, there are no "low level" assigned to FISA applications, especially one as politically sensitive as the Carter Page wiretap.
Secondly, making a false declaration to a federal court is a crime. We're obviously not talking about a punctuation error.
Third, the FBI has never explained their decision to absolve Clinton because she "didn't have the internet" to circumvent federal law when she used a private server. Those decisions are usually made by a jury and the announcement on the disposition of a case of that magnitude is usually made by senior DOJ officials, not the FBI.
It's very odd that the report points out the magnitude and compounded nature of the FBI "irregularities" but still concludes that no laws are broken.
"Mischaracterized information" is usually referred to as lying. When done by ab FBI official who prosecutes civilians for the very same thing, it too is a crime.
Of course we must wait and see in any of this morphs into an indictment. But as with the Clinton investigation the IG has already concluded that there was no intent to deceive.
There are whistleblowers who were sentenced to five years in prison for far less. So it seems that some folks are above the law most of them work in the DOJ.
The pubic trust in government just dropped to a new low.
17
Funny how everything the GOP claims to be facts of what really did really happen, aren’t.
Similarly, every court case they bring saying the Democrats are wrong, or doing something illegal, they lose.
Their party has now become one of lawsuits to delay finding the truth, or repeating the same lie until it becomes a truth.
4
The overall idea that Russians did work to influence elections in favor of Trump is again lost in all these republican investigations.
Isn’t that the most important thing, from the national security perspective, that transpires from 3 years of investigations? Aren’t republicans working so hard to muddle this truth and to help our enemies?
Should next democratic president open investigation on Republican treason?
4
@CarolinaJoe
Even if the Russians did as you say, so what? It doesn’t mean they actually influenced anyone’s vote. I, for once, will not vote for the Dems in 2020 simply based on their open borders policies and they tax and spend propensity. You can’t blame the Russians or the Reps for that.
5
@Pat from CT. while I agree that borders need to be secured, the way this administration has gone about it is criminal, defying our own as well as some international laws. This was bound to happen as each successive administration kicked the can down the road about updating immigration policies and laws, however, you need to pay close attention to who is spending and who is trying to fix the excessive spending of whom. Since Reagan, the democratic administrations have been the ones fixing the overspending. The republicans always say they believe in smaller govt and less spending, but that is not how they behave when in office.
1
Trump's reaction belies his inner thinking.
Please tell me how anyone can expect to effectively fight a foreign foe criminal of the lowest order that employs subversion, propaganda, and the ultimate criminal conduct, with an ordered unbiased procedural, investigation following the letter of the law.
And why does Trump expect that?
The report also says that Christopher Steele, of the Steele dossier, is Pro-Trump and a friend of Ivanka’s since 2007. My mind is blown.
2
Why does your summary repeat the charge of anti-Trump bias without mentioning the senior FBI investigators whose texts also appeared in the report? Those exulting in Trump's win, glad they didn't have to work for "a criminal" (Clinton) and volunteering to investigate her foundation. Presumably they have been fired, like Peter Strzok. Mustn't show bias.
3
If I thought there was any more bandwidth in the Judiciary Committee at this fractious, momentous moment, I'd propose--in all serious--that they consider censuring AG Barr. This person has consistently obfuscated, stonewalled, misrepresented and functioned way outside of his lane in a way that reflects a total abandonment of responsible, judicious and impartial execution of his role and its limits. And there are limits!
4
So the IG report is finally complete. It found that the "origins of the Russia investigation" were not politically motivated.
Trump then got on TV and stated the exact opposite, that the report was "worse than we even thought." And now Trump has his Attorney General throwing out statements to further muddy the waters.
The Republicans in Congress, and Trumps supporters, don't recognize Trumps gross abuse of power in pressuring Ukraine for personal political gain. And now his supporters will probably agree that the IG report somehow proves that the "origins" of the Russia investigation were politically motivated.
During the 2016 campaign Trump said that he could "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and my supporters wouldn't care." And it's true. But even worse than that, they don't care that he has threatened our national security.
I'm not sure how all this will end. I pray that we're not witnessing the beginning of the end of our democracy.
2
@thetruthfirst "I pray that we're not witnessing the beginning of the end of our democracy." You are. Look at the current impeachment effort that has no House Republicans backing the Democrats' efforts. At least Clinton's impeachment had 31 House Republicans backing the effort, as misguided as that impeachment was.
The last time we heard someone else screaming “No Collusion!” the shoe was on the other foot. We didn’t believe the first why should we believe the second?
So the STEEL report was used extensively to get all 3 warrants on Page. The FBI may not be prejudicial against Trump but the stuff they put before the judge to get the warrants were basically fictitious. The agents maneuvered the judge with hot air. All you comment makers who said they did not use the Steel report should get your ducks in order. If I got a warrant like this I would have been demoted or fired. They did not have anything and basically they lied to go fishing. Their actions speak for themselves. Remember if these guys want to get into your house they will find a way. With little oversight (and they
know this) it’s easy.
13
Nothing like reality to interfere with a good conspiracy theory...unless reality is part of the Deep State.
2
I’m confused. Was it not the Democrats who hired Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele, who in fact colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 election?
Is the Democrat-initiated impeachment inquiry just a preemptive strike to deflect from their own malfeasance? Food for thought...
27
@Susanna Food for thought? If so it's zero calorie.
37
@Susanna It was a bipartisan project. In September 2015 Fusion GPS was hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political website, to do opposition research on Trump and other Republican presidential candidates. When the Free Beacon stopped funding the investigation into Trump the law firm Perkins Coie, on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, retained Fusion GPS to continue opposition research on Trump.
23
@Sanguinesolitude
Ah, a non-answer response...less than zero calories.
8
There is a paper trail for the Carter Page wiretap. And the Department off Justice report is critical of that trail. At the same time, Trump and his associates have made false and reckless claims that he was wiretapped or spied upon by the FBI. Any FBI mistakes on the Carter Page wiretap are troubling. But they pale in comparison to the unfounded accusations by Trump.
On balance, the FBI errors Barr notes are far less important than an out-of-control President (or Presidential candidate) making crazy accusations. There should have been, at the very least, a footnote addressing this matter. And maybe the Trump offense should have been what was covered in the report with the Carter Page wiretap discussed in a footnote.
Very big pot calling a small kettle black.
11
@michjas
As my comment above explains, FISA warrants allow the FBI to spy not only on the target, but the target's contacts and the contacts of those contacts. While the Page warrant may not have reached Trump himself, it may very well have reached nearly everyone around him. Some speculate that then NSA head Admiral Rogers informed Trump of this when Rogers turned up unexpectedly at Trump Tower a few days after the election. The Page warrant opened the door for the FBI to surveil most top Trump advisers but it is unclear if the FBI actually did so.
4
@Barbara Conspiracy theorists seldom know what they are talking about. The reach of a FISA warrant is only as broad as the Court decides. Most FISA warrants apply to a single target. Since FISA warrants are top secret, nobody has seen the Carter Page warrant. Most likely it was standard issue. Barbara argues that it could have been the broadest warrant in history. That is groundless speculation. If it was broad enough, we may all be wiretapped. Barbara would know best, because she hears voices.
1
Who can read this information and buy the story that mere carelessness and not outright bias was at the root of the irregularities? I have Florida land for anyone who swallows this account of the irregularities surrounding spying on an opponent's campaign by abusing agency powers and deliberately circumventing the checks in place to stop abuse.
22
@OldEngineer
I think you're talking about a different report than the rest of us, because what you're describing is not, in fact, in this report.
2
Page no longer was working for the Trump Campaign when the FISA warrent was issued. So, how exactly is the FBI spying on Trump’s campaign?
2
@OldEngineer Your offer to sell non-existent land is as credible as your description of the facts involved in this investigation. A Freudian slip on the deadly staircase of logic and reason
2
Trump's comment that the report is far worse than he imagined is laughable. It is only far worse because he expected it to match his narrative that the investigation was corrupt. And it didn't.
13
@Jack : So MSNBC broke into the impeachment hearing to talk about this, saying that it refutes Trump and then they break away to Trump in a cabinet meeting (or something) and he was semi-hysterical 'This must never happen to another president, this is the worst thing to ever happen to a president, blah blah blah and then Pam Bondi started in about how terrible this was, how he had been so hurt and then MSNBC pundits came back on and one of them, a legal guy, said "We are now officially living in alternate realities".
Yep. Two realities. Never the twain shall meet. America can't last long like this. We have a delusional (or corrupt or both) president with 60,000,000 true believers. And then there's the rest of us.
Wow.
3
I think this can quash all faith Democrats may have placed in moderate Republicans in the Senate. Clearly, Republicans have lost all their senses and forgotten that they serve the People, not one man.
16
@John
Indeed. The evidence for what you say is unimpeachable, if I may.
3
The report is non-partisan in that both sides can peruse its contents and extract those parts that support their political agendas.
5
@Mike Edwards The Democratic Party's agenda is crystal clear, truth and justice. As for the Republican's, it appears to be protect the Mad King at all costs.
3
The issue is whether Trump helped the Russians tamper with our elections. It has been investigated exhaustively. It has been the subject of a dozen indictments of Russians abroad. It has led to prosecutions, most notably of Manafort. which were successful, but did not produce helpful evidence against Trump, which was the principal goal. The matter has been re-examined by House Democrats and by the Department of Justice. It is also a widespread subject of discussion in the media and among conspiracy theorists. We know everything about this that can be known.
The success or failure of the tampering has been examined. But this subject has gotten far less attention than the question of conspiracy. I have not read anything that convinced me, one way or the other, about the bottom line effect on votes. My vote was based on my partisan beliefs, voluminous reading, televised debates, and political discussions with friends and foes alike. There is zero chance that tampering changed my vote. Proving that it changed the votes of others is speculative. And I well know that CONVICTION FOR CONSPIRACY DOES NOT DEPEND ON THE SUCCESS OF THE EFFORT. But common sense motivates me to want to know. I pretty much need to know. And I don't know despite my efforts to find out.
I would appreciate more attention to this matter. It doesn't change the core issues. But anyone who doesn't want to know the bottom line lacks curiosity and has their head in the clouds.
2
@michjas two things:
1- "We know everything about this that can be known. " is false. We still don't have the Grand Jury evidence for the charges in the Mueller Report, we STILL don't have ANY of the anti-espionage information uncovered by the Mueller Report and we STILL dont have sworn testimony from any White House officials including Trump.
2 - Your argument is based on "anecdotal evidence" which is a logical fallacy in argument. While we will never know the EXTENT of the influence, its disengenious to claim there was/is/will be NO influence.
2
All I know is trump is as slippery as an eel.
1
We must get rid of all the Obama holdovers because it is giving Americans a false impression of the truth. The FBI was trying to railroad Trump, and they got caught. They never expected Hillary to lose, and now that they are exposed, they are doing everything they can to cover-up their crimes; and falsely accusing Trump of one thing after another is just a distraction from their crimes.
The good of the country, Comey, Lunch, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok and others who were complicit in trying to stop Trump from serving as the duly elected President of the United, should go to prison; if for no other reason, than to serve as a deterrent so it doesn’t happen again.
If we do nothing, and let these people who violates the public trust get away with their crimes, it will happen again; and next time it could be you they railroad because of your political views.
21
@Samara We must all learn to recognize opinions (example: the entire contents of your post) and facts (example: the contents of the report you are opining on).
Opinions are "subjective" (see your post) while facts are "objective (see the report).
This simple exercise is an example of "critical thinking", which is one of the goals of higher education. Perhaps this explains why Trump supporters view education as "indoctrination" while flocking to the religious cults every weekend.
10
@Samara
You did not read the report just released otherwise you would have posted this.
I suggest you read the Mueller Report and the House Intel report released last week.
Then you will be informed.
5
@Samara : If the FBI was so sure Hillary was going to lose, why would they bother to target the clown Trump? They wouldn't even have thought about it, it wouldn't have occurred to them to start the process.
Trump had Russia all around him, everywhere in his circle and there were too many 'coincidences' where Trump and Russia intertwined. Criminal conspiracy? Not according to Mueller, but you know what? Mueller didn't even look into Trump's finances, it was a very narrow investigation. All that money laundering didn't get investigated.
Trump is so very corrupt and working for Putin, whatever his reason. I just pray we can get him out of office before we completely lose our country.
7
Translation: "we found nothing untoward. In fact, there was ample reason to investigate. If they hadn't investigated, it would have been a dereliction of duty, putting the country in even greater danger than it already was. However, we needed to save face so we found some 'mistakes.'" There, that's better. We are all in big, big trouble. When someone writes a book about this era, they could use this title: decline and fall of the showman empire.
13
Will Trump and the Republicans now claim that IG Horowitz and his staff are also members of the deep state?
32
That's exactly what they are saying over on a couple of sites I looked at today.
7
More wasted taxpayers money to try and prop up criminal Trump's outright lies.
36
Hey, Republicans upholding Trump's impeachable offences - including Mr.. Gohmert who is now doing is faux outrage so trite and loud, I just can't believe this guy has not been sent for a psychiatric edvaluation before he ends up physically hurting himself:
You want to "root out corruption"??
Well take November then and the Rule of Law, here in the U.S. concerning that Donald J. Trump "Charitable" Foundation case involving both Trump AND his offspring -
And that Mueller Report that a lot of you didn't even bother to read.
Or anything that his co-conspirators, now serving time in prison (including his personal attorney), have said.
Gohmert and his co-horts talk about decency and rules of decorum as his voice gets louder and louder and he - repeatedly - refers to these proceedings as a "Kangaroo Court." Such outright stupidity. Trump's toadies are in what can only be referred to as a stupor.
Hey, Gohmert, there is no need for you to raise your vote and no need for your histrionics because I can hear you. The problem is that your trite schtick and playing the victim are is not saying anything other than that you have nothing of any merit whatsoever in pleading Trump's case on behalf of his no-show lawyers.
15
GOP and Trump Translation. Proof of Never Trump, Trump conspiracy and deep state hanky panky. Here is on FOX NOISE at 9:00 p.m.
4
After Barr's fictional summary of the Mueller Report,
his credibility to write a summary of the Horowitz Report is zero.
30
Few sights are more pathetic than that of an aging con man like Trump being incapable of grasping the fact his lies are no longer working, that he can no longer outrun his past statements, and that he has no credibility left whatsoever.
Convict and execute our draft-dodging Criminal-in-Chief for treason as he fully deserves, before Putin can grant him asylum in Russia for a job well done.
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” ― Abraham Lincoln
15
I think the Dems fecklessness is worse. We will lose because we can’t get over HRC as a bad candidate.
5
Ms Lane, “we” are over 2016. It is the conservatives who can’t seem to let it go.
8
@K. Martini
I don’t think you are.
2
yoo hoo . . . hello . . knock knock, is anybody home?
None of them will care, because you're dealing with a cult.
They will continue to dance to the palliative of their narrative, to the exclusion of all else.
While Nunes, Jordan, Gaetz, Meeadows, and all the rest clap hands to keep the beat.
13
What a dirty business this is! Impeachment has been knocked off the top left page of the NY Times. It is no mistake that Barr timed this release to upstage the impeachment hearings.
8
@Ben This release was scheduled for December 9 weeks ago. Vice versa in other words.
4
I am surprised that the Times did not compare today’s report to the Mueller report. Both debunked conspiracy theories put out by extremists. The only difference is whether the false narrative had been put out by the left or the right. Just like with the Mueller report though, one should not expect that the conspiracy proponents will allow facts and reason to shut them up.
I have an idea for the Times. Why not have one of your reporters do an article showing how frequently your paper pushed the false Russia conspiracy narrative?
7
@luxembourg
No matter how much you repeat the trope of "no Russian collusion," the fact still remains that Russia interfered with our election, and Trump's campaign gladly accepted using their interference.
That's not an "exoneration" that you should be bragging about.
17
@luxembourg This part is true "Both debunked conspiracy theories put out by extremists", but not in the way that you intended
2
@Paul-A
Still, not a single person in the Trump organization, was accused, much less convicted, of conspiring with the Russians. There were not even any unindicted coconspirators.
This article attempts to mislead by makng conclusions not in the Horowitz report. Mistakes? Even a Democrat should be intelligent enough to understand that willfully falsifying documents, deliberately withholding information from superiors, knowingly providing incomplete information to a FISA judge, and referring in emails to an ongoing criminal investigation that none of the participants are able to explain are “mistakes”. They represent willful misconduct.
2
Why does the headline for this story emphasize the ancillary information (process mistakes) and not the central conclusion (that the inquiry was justified)?
12
Because it allows the readers the opportunity to think and come to their own conclusions maybe? Do you find that threatening ?
1
Exactly how much evidence is needed before issuing a FISA warrant to check if a presidential candidate is a Russian plant.
It seems to me that anyone running for the office of the most powerful person in the world and the holder of the worlds largest nuclear arsenal needs checking out ahead of time. Don't ya think?
Can you imagine - "there is an outside chance we have a Russian asset as the front runner for POTUS. But he says he's a Republican, so its probably ok..ish."
5
The report says there is a “low threshold” every time it says the evidence was sufficient.
3
Pam Biondi, that Ivanka Trump doppelganger (sorry, folks, but it's frightening), that paragon of virtue, that former Florida Attorney General who after taking a $20,000 donation from Trump, shut down an investigation into his fraudulent university (the same fake university that had to pay 25 million to settle lawsuits in New York and California). That Pam Biondi is now a Trump campaign flack (and hack) being put front and center by the Grifter In Chief to misrepresent the IG report? But of course.
13
Barr and the Republican leadership know that the truth and common sense are irrelevant to Trump supporters. Trump is a living disaster for the United State. He was placed in office despite his glaring personal defects and total lack of qualification by a voter minority in an electoral process corrupted by Republican-controlled wide spread voter suppression aided and abetted by proven Russian intervention.
Trump is a symptom of a frail political system brought about by Republican greed backed by powerful mega-donors and promoted by the Fox/Breitbart Big Lie propaganda machine. The GOP will do nothing to stem the disgrace Trump brings to all Americans. Every news day is filled with yet another Trumpian attack on the rule of law sense and decency - be it putting alligators and snakes on the Mexican border, abandoning our Kurdish allies and creating further chaos in the Middle East or bribing the Ukraine to smear Joe Biden. The Democratic leadership is finally impeaching Trump as they should be: no man is above the law. Trump is now more wildly dangerous to national and global security than ever.
The American people must teach the GOP an indelible lesson. There be a massive Blue Wave against Trumpian/GOP corruption. Restoration of decency to our government can only come if American voters take control of their fate, turn out in huge numbers, vote out feckless Republican hypocrites across the land and get rid of their chosen eader, Donald Trump.
12
It wasn't the initiation of the Russia probe into the Trump campaign that was "politically motivated" -- that was just really super dumb.
For those of us who knew so from the start, there could not have been a more inert fact than the Mueller team finally reporting -- after 35.2 million wasted taxpayer dollars and 22 deformed months of the duly-elected 45th president's presidency -- that they "did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government."
No: it's the enactions and cover ups of the "serious performance failures" the IG's report found that was politically motivated.
Was -- and is.
9
@RLS here's the REST of that cherry-picked quote:
"“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome,” the report states, “and that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
2
Does nobody remember who initiated the mueller investigation??? Think back in time folks. Republicans controlled the entire government.
1
You know what the worst thing about all of this is?
All Jim Comey had to do was follow protocol, and none of this would have mattered. There were two events that changed the course of history and elected Donald Trump:
1) Comedy’s public announcement of the FBI investigation into Clinton, in clear violation of FBI & DOJ policy not to comment on open investigations, and for refusing to disclose the active FBI investigation into Donald Trump.
2) The November 1, 2016 NY Times article that was published with the erroneous title: “Investigating Donald Trump, FBI sees No Clear Link to Russia” despite the fact that the FBI had a mountain of evidence linking Trump’s campaign to Russia.
Donald Trump’s electoral college victory was decided by 77,000 people spread across 3 northeastern states. It was one of the smallest national election margins in US history. All of this, all of the chaos all of the corruption, all of the violence, the destruction of institutions, and the affronts to basic human decency... it all could have been avoided were it not for those two events.
And now here we are. The FBI is being attacked by the very people that they helped elect, for investigating people who had nefarious contacts with foreign agents who were interfering in our elections.
Shakespeare himself couldn’t have written a better dramedy.
12
All Trump had to do in order to tamp down suspicions or disprove the FBI's investigation was to completely back away from any further contact with Russians.
He could have made announcements on TV or to the press about looking into the matter and wanting full disclosure from any members of his campaign staff or administration until more was known.
He could have refused to take any meetings with diplomats and Putin until more facts were out in the open.
He could have at least said that he stood behind our intelligence services and would make judgments once more was known.
In other words, Trump could have done a lot more to make people feel that he was concerned, on top of things, and worried about future elections. Instead, he has done all of the opposite. He has fired people critical to the investigation. He has met with Russians without others present, backed up what Putin says, and has denounced foreign service professionals.
And now...he has bullied all Republicans in Congress into going along with this idiocy. To denounce evidence in plain sight, and even to lie for him. What a bunch of unpatriotic weaklings.
6
Can you imagine how inept the report would be were Barr conducting it? It would be like Doctor Ronny Jackson (a/k/a Dr. Candyman)' report on Trump's health.
Remember Doctor Candyman? ""He has incredible genes!"
"I told the President that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years he might live to be 200 years old."
"I think he will remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even the remainder of another term if he is elected."
.. and another and another, and another, until his heirs take over.
Right Doctor Candyman?
Barr must be on the same drugs.
3
"Inspector General Report on F.B.I. Russia Inquiry Finds Serious Errors But Debunks Anti-Trump Plot".............
Political bias? - YES there was and is today political bias.......
BUT
It's from the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" Republican Party Congressmen and women -- Not the FBI........
The Republicans have become so terrified of, so intimidated by Donald Trump's juvenile daily Tweet war that they have forgotten whom and what they swore to protect
AND
It wasn't Donald Trump's criminal behavior...........
4
Nice to see republicans continue to do damage to the FBI with their lies, phony conspiracies and general nonsense. Hopefully, karma still works.
7
"Mr. Clinesmith left the Russia investigation in February 2018 after the inspector general identified him as one of a handful of F.B.I. officials who expressed animus toward Mr. Trump’s election as president in internal texts."
Did the inspector general identify any FBI officials who expressed animus toward Hillary Clinton or another Democrat's election? I find it incredible that journalists don't even ask that question. I find it incredible that journalists at the NY Times are so certain that the only bias that exists in the FBI is the rabid anti-Republican bias that they don't even feel any need to question that Republican narrative.
Most readers assume that there is ALSO quite a bit of pro-Trump and pro-Republican bias at the FBI, but obviously this newspaper is working very hard to convince reader that belief is absolutely flaws and there is absolutely no anti-Democrat or pro-Republican bias that exists in the FBI.
It is yet another way in how the reporters at this newspaper bend over backward to give the right wing talking points without any context to give lots of credibility to the falsehoods offered by Barr and other Republicans.
This newspaper forgot that its job was to report the facts and give context to those facts, not to convince readers that the only bias in the FBI is anti-Trump.
2
In fact, there are text exchanges in the report that show pro-Trump bias on the part of senior agents. Don't hold your breath waiting for disciplinary action on them, though.
3
So another conspiracy shot down. Not that it will matter to Trump supporters.
6
Barr must live in Wonderland. First the verdict, then the trial!
Why even bother with an investigation if he only believes what he wants to believe regardless of the evidence?
3
Now the fun begins, assuming that you believe seeing the DoJ dismantled by William Barr to serve the political demands of President Trump as being fun. His statement just came out, accompanied by one from John Durham. Barr criticized ex-FBI officials and disputed the findings of the Inspector General. So when the next shoes drop, let's see if they include unvarnished accusations of anti-Trump bias made by Barr or even criminal indictments of ex-FBI officials, including senior officials, from the Durham investigation. Maybe they'll get Jim Comey for illegally taking of notes of conversations with the president.
And after that, let's see if the Senate trial of Donald Trump includes demands for testimony or even subpoenas, for the whistleblower, Hunter Biden and Adam Schiff. It would be perfect if Donald Trump's GOP could direct that the law protecting whistleblowers be dismantled, so he can face even less scrutiny going forward. Getting Hunter Biden hauled before the Senate would excuse Rudy's failed efforts in Ukraine. And if the GOP Senate can haul Schiff onto the carpet, they could make sure that Democrats think twice before fulfilling their oaths of office, since it's apparent that nobody else will.
The old joke is that only fools bring a knife to a gunfight. The new joke is that only only fools bring the rule of law to a fight with an aspiring autocrat. Or maybe we will all be fools for thinking an election will stop one.
5
Just watched today's hearing: the ranking minority member posed no questions the Democrat counsel, just sat there bloviating that what Joe Biden did was essentially the same as what Trump did this past summer with reference to the Ukraine. It beggars absolutely all belief, especially when everyone concerned have refused to testify (which would have forced them to lie under oath). The only thing that can prevent the US from sliding into autocracy is a Democratic landslide in 2020, and that probably won't happen.
5
Anything that stems from this administration is a partisan distraction. The Smoke and Mirrors POTUS.
3
The 54% of Americans in the reality based world that disapprove of Trump knew this would be the result.
7
Attorney General William P. Barr needs to resign after this report.
Barr supposed to work for the Country not for trump, as he is always at trumps beck and call as if he is trump`s peon.
6
Well, if you're not looking for it, it's unlikely you'll find it.
1
The only way for our country to move forward is if we have a Democratic President, Senate and House after November. Country over politics please..
7
Late stage Capitalism is playing its last desperate, broken hearted hand. The system has degenerated into more of an Oligarchy than a capitalistic reality.
It's what always happens through time and when the Supreme Court allows unlimited private sector funds to pour into public coffers. Bribery, coercion, influence, threats, favorable legislation for the oligarchy, it's what happens every time.
History tells us what's coming down the road, hard and fast. It's called 'redistribution of wealth' and it can be violent or it can be accomplished peacefully, at the voting booth.
Better put on your thinking caps and make the right choice.
Hint: The GOP will never support the equitable redistribution of wealth.
They might as well called themselves Greedy Old Parasites, not the Grand Old Party.
5
No conspiracy. We just issue FISA taps casually all the time. Actually, that's just as frightening.
5
@Cloudy define "all the time" and "casually".
2
Barr was born three centuries late in the history of Western Civilization. His view of the world and government belongs to the 18th century and the Roman Catholic Church's rejection of the social philosophers of the Enlightenment. He would have been most at home in the government of Louis XV.
8
Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.
1
Now we have two reports, the current Inspector General’s and the Mueller Report that allow enough ambiguity so that Boss Barr can spin in the president’s favor. Sad.
1
All these activities serve one goal: diminish the efficacy of the FBI to stop Russian spying in the US. The loss of leadership at the top of the FBI will leave Putin maneuvering room to advance his spy-craft here. Nancy Pelosi nailed it when she stated that all roads from trump lead to Putin. These are probably darker days than we realize.
7
Turns our the report was "historic" in that it reports that Trump is the first candidate justifiably investigated by the FBI for colluding with an enemy government.
Trump likes to throw the traitor word around.
This report is evidence that Trump was investigated by the FBI for being a traitor.
Historic indeed.
7
"“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr said...."
William Barr might just as well be standing behind Trump at one of the MAGA rallies. He is just that weird a cultish.
Barr is, of course, a disgrace to the office of Attorney General of the United States of America.
Barr believes that Trump should have unfettered presidential authority.
Barr is contemptuous, despicable and servile, he is a lunatic presidents steam dream.
William Barr will serve as a perfect representation of venality and treachery for all attorney generals who follow him.
If he serves at least that function (and he is well on his way) he might possibly have done one good thing in an otherwise destructive, slimy, and laughable career.
4
From the actual report:
1. "Steele' s handling agent viewed Steele as a former intelligence officer colleague and FBI CHS (Confidential Human Source), with obligations to the FBI."
2. "Steele, on the other hand, told us that he was a
businessperson whose firm (not Steele) had a
contractual agreement with the FBI and whose
obligations were to his paying clients, not the FBI"
Conclusion: Steele plainly admits he is simply a "businessperson" whose obligations were to his paying clients (the DNC via Fusion GPS)....not the FBI. Well, if your client is paying you to produce dirt on Trump....that is what you do. Whether the dirt is true or not is irrelevant.
The narrative that Steele was some do-gooder out to save the world by "investigating" and "exposing" Trump malfeasance has been destroyed. He is simply a profiteer producing what he was paid to produce. "Truth", "Facts" and his "FBI Obligations" were not part of Steele's vocabulary.
4
As a hypothetical, let's change a few of the relevant facts. What if instead of Trump, it was Obama? And instead of Russia, what if it was Al Qaeda? Even is we kept Russia as the alleged infiltrator/benefactor, what are the odds the exact same FBI conduct would be characterized by any Republican as "malfeasance and malfeasance"? Slim. No doubt Republicans like Mr. Barr would characterize the FBI actions as "appropriate".
1
Has not Trump committed treason by giving aid and comfort to the Russians — the repeating of their propaganda and maintaining it is accurate, and by hobbling their enemies through his decision to withhold aid lawfully designated by congress to help our ally, Ukraine, fend off their unlawful invasion.
“Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.”
5
Trump can’t help but be wrong about everything. He really is the Bizarro president. If only there weren’t so many Americans who want to live in Bizarro World.
3
They found errors in applying for and using surveillance!
How does this case compare to "normal?" I'll bet it isn't far off.
Who doesn't expect law enforcement to be over zealous in their use of surveillance?
5
The FBI and DOJ should immediately cease all investigations that are ongoing into Trump and Russia. Clearly, the Republicans are acting as Russian agents and the Senate will only stop the impeachment efforts. As well, Republicans would refer to cease all efforts by the government of the U.S. to stop interference in the election. They have the Republican Party in the US to do their work for them. Senator Ted Cruz has revealed his national allegiance to Russia and is working on behalf of Putin to rig the election in 2020.
Trump appointees are working overtime to ensure that Russia is able to return Trump to power for four more years of great Republican leadership. Kim Jung-Un will also be beholding to Putin so that he may build up his nuclear stockpile and become the regional power that he wants to be.
China is also welcoming Russian help to destabilize America. Trumps erratic policies make it easy for Russia, China and North Korea to achieve their aims. America’s allies are wondering just what is going on in the mind of Trump. Trudeau, Macron and Merkel are openly wondering what America’s policies are. They used to know, but not now.
Trump promised to ‘drain the swamp’ and ‘shake things up’ in Washington. He has achieved that latter objective But the swamp has gotten a lot bigger.
Americans are coming to Canada to buy their medicines since they found out that the price is 1/10th of the price in the US. We will soon be turning people away at the border.
3
No matter what this report says, Republicans will claim that the investigation was tainted and that the "deep state" has, and is working hard to thwart the presidency of Mr. Trump. If the FBI observes Russian spies meeting with an American(Carter Page) then aren't they supposed to investigate?
4
If you actually read the report, the political bias is obvious and glaring. I don't think Americans would like the Trump administration to operate this kind of surveillance against Biden or Sanders! It is important we get this right, it is up to the American people to make sure there is accountability.
Both Barr and Durham disagree with the premise of "Crossfire Hurricane". Durham's report is now a criminal probe. Things are not rosy as the headline suggests.
9
@Jlee67 The report I 'actually read" states exactly the opposite of what you are claiming.
How do you explain this discrepancy?
Following a surge in praise of the impressive character, competence, and patriotism of career government officials, many seem to better understand the quality and dedication of the US Civil Service. The same could be observed about the Justice Department IG report. Despite Attorney General Barr's public statements before, during, and after the investigation, the IG showed it fulfilled its duty to do an honest and accurate investigation. In the Executive branch of this administration, the Justice Department in particular, to clearly debunk the narrative Trump and his ilk concocted is commendable and courageous.
1
According to recent polls, 43% of Republicans would prefer a dictatorship where the President wasn’t responsible to oversight.
Apparently, 100% of Republicans in Congress are hoping to deliver that outcome.
So much for their oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
5
This Administration has decided it is better to misrepresent the conclusions of investigations into its behavior than provide legitimate explanations for that behavior. It would have you believe that it is adamant about fighting Ukraine corruption when it won't even address the corruption within its own Cabinet Offices. If Joe McCarthy had been President, this would be his Presidency.
3
My taxes pay for the "president" to play golf every week, profiting his businesses with my tax money.
My taxes pay for the "president's" staff to stay at his resorts, profiting his businesses with my tax money.
My taxes pay for Jared and Ivanka to travel the world asking for loans, making transactions on personal business, hawking her wares.
My taxes pay for the "president's" personal Attorney General to ensure that he remains above the law.
This must be what they meant by "tax reform." I like the old system better.
12
The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence is “ We find these truths to be self evident”
It seems that in the Trump era that not only self evident truths are ignored and disparaged by Trump and Republicans , Truths established by exhaustive investigations are rejected by Trump , Barr and the like.
Is the United States of America , now the Disunited State of Denial.
This is so dangerous for our Democracy that Conspiracy Theories and lies are the Common currency of the President , his Administration , his Party
3
Let me make something clear; The organization is called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are supposed to investigate. I expect them to investigate any leads they encounter. That is a fact of life. The concern should be what they do with that investigation after they learn facts. That is how it works. It doesn't matter if they are biased in my view because bias could also be termed as a hunch or suspicion and ask yourself this; wouldn't you expect an investigator to be biased against criminals? If he or she learns of possible criminal activity, I expect them to be biased and not in favor of the target of their investigation.
5
Those entrusted with conducting high level investigations that have political ramifications often seem to go out of their way to appear apolitical. They do this by either providing an overly technical and bureaucratic report, which few can digest or interpret, and/or try to have it both ways by providing a little bit of something for everyone. These include James Comey, Robert Mueller, and now Michael Horowitz. Their reports actually satisfy no one and only increase the partisan environment.
1
@Mikes 547 The "partisan environment" you refer to is based on a presumed false equivalency that "both sides are the same".
They are not.
Republicans eschew facts for political victory, they have no shame. Democrats are the exact opposite of this, as shown by their behavior and the facts and evidence they have presented.
United States Attorney Durham “ I have the utmost respect for the mission of the Office of Inspector General and the comprehensive work that went into the report prepared by Mr. Horowitz and his staff. However, our investigation is not limited to developing information from within component parts of the Justice Department. Our investigation has included developing information from other persons and entities, both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S. Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.” OIG investigation was limited to the myriad administrative issues.
4
This won't change Trump's tweets, nor the opinions of his fans. But that doesn't matter, that's not what is important. What is important is the truth, debunking lies, and adding another inconvenient fact to those who are not entirely willfully blind, to make it harder to continue to dismiss everything as a conspiracy and slanted news.
5
Trump's trust and reliance upon Russians and mistrust and resentment towards Americans is enthusiastically supported by Republican voters. They seem to think that Putin is their friend and ally.
6
So errors mostly centering on one FISA warrant which was not even started until 1 month after he left the Trump administration and with findings ultimately of no bias and overall following of appropriate procedures in the opening of the actual investigations? It seems like the Carter Page stuff is being overly elevated in significance. It certainly is still important and bad but as noted much lower down in this article, it was a fraction of the overall effort and warrants done.
2
I say, Let's now investigate William Barr, for how he investigated the investigators of the Trump-Russia investigation. The reasons include, among other things:
*Traveling to foreign countries, urging them to help prove his own department's investigators wronged poor Donald Trump for political purposes. Since when does this country's top law enforcement officer make personal appearances abroad, pushing foreign leaders to get involved in our internal investigations?
*Barr's efforts to publicly poison political, public and investigative opinions about the investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators. He has repeatedly promoted his own conclusions to this IG investigation, while said investigation was literally underway.
*The way Barr has used provocative and misleading language about the Trump-Russia investigation. The previous administration's agents "spied" on candidate Trump, he told Congress. And before he would release Mueller's findings, the attorney general whitewashed the whole affair, such as when he pooh-pooh'd mountains of evidence that his boss tried to obstruct the probe. Trump was, Barr said, understandably stressed by it.
I mean, what wrongdoer isn't a tad anxious while under criminal investigation?
Barr's actions have served to outright deny, mischaracterize and obfuscate the truths uncovered by Mueller and the misdeeds of Trump. If this were done by any other American prosecutor, he or she would be thrown off the case. At the least.
4
Most of the posters herein think this is some sort of absolution of the DoJ and FBI.
Well, validation is where you find it but the only thing that matters is the investigation being conducted by John Durham.
Dems and ‘progressives’ better move on to their usual tactic of personal destruction of those who may be a threat.
3
@EGD regarding your verbage "usual tactic of personal destruction of those who may be a threat" can you share your thoughts on the multiple Benghazi investigations and the never-ending saga of the Clinton email "scandal"?
Then maybe a few paragraphs on Whitewater, and the consensual sex between two adults that resulted in impeachment of Bill Clinton?
thanks!
1
Why should he care about a plot against him? It did not work, he paid people to beat the antiquated "election" system and seized the presidency. Done and done.
2
So the 'motivation' was really not identified other than sloppiness? How gullible do they think we are?
5
Any complicated process involving many skilled but time-constrained individuals will enviably result in unintended errors and missteps. But when the overall effort, as in this case, is deemed appropriate by an internal but independent review, then all the participants can be satisfied that their efforts were founded in law and were not wasted. Every important road leading to the desired destination will never be free of some bends along the way.
5
The proper administrative step to take would be to audit recent and past FISA applications to determine how widespread errors and omissions are. This should be done w/ an eye toward the need to revise procedures and require needed training, and importantly before taking any disciplinary action.
Needless to say I doubt this approach will be followed.
3
Of course, none of this will change the mind of a single dedicated Trumpist. The most we’ll get are stories about how “privately,” Republicans in Congress are “troubled,” which translates out as disgusted and kinda horrified—and too gutless to say or do a single solitary thing.
Then, as this excellent article says, Trump and Trumpists will cherry pick this or that from this report, while simultaneously screaming that the whole thing’s a whitewash and we need more investigations.
I’ll be amazed if we get through this without Louis Gohmert screaming that the server’s hidden in Benghazi, or was shipped to the Gay Space Station.
24
How many times do Republicans want to continue to investigate EVERYTHING except President Trump. During the Obama administration there were endless oversight hearings with only one possible scandal (Fast and Furious). Benghazi I can’t even remember how many times - with the only finding was that Clinton was careless with emails (which looks downright amateur compared to the endless security breaches by the current admin).
Congress has a duty to oversee. But they also have an obligation to eventually let go and stop wasting all of our tons and money.
19
@Cooofnj
Only one? So lying about Afghanistan, prosecuting journalists, breaking into Sen. Feinstein's computers when she was investigating torture, and Brennan lying to Congress is "nothing"?
How many journalists has the Trump administration harassed with bogus charges of violating the Espionage Act? Zero.
How many members of Congress and Senate have had their computers broken into while they were doing investigations? Zero.
Schiff seems to be the only one who gets other members' phone records to support his conspiracy theories. And yet he wont release his own to prove that he didn't coordinate with the whistleblower before a complaint was filed.
2
@Viv Whats with the rhetorical questions? If you want to make a claim, do so. Then follow it up with facts to support said claim.
Instead you've chosen to make vague accusations while removing yourself from the duty to support said claims.
As for facts: The Obama Administration had ZERO indictments and ZERO convictions.
2
@Ray
Yes, you get zero indictments and zero convictions when your own AG and Congress refuses to investigate any of it. How convenient.
2
Attorney General Barr will not rest until the U.S. is an authoritarian state founded under the religious values he holds. Anything that hurts Trump hurts Barr and his view of where America should be, so Barr will disbelieve any evidence that is exculpatory to Trump's critics and he will disbelieve any evidence of Trump's culpability. The U.S. used to be a democracy, but it is waving "adios" to all that. Buena suerte, amigos!
24
@Richard Grayson One quibble: it would technically be a Theocracy, which is the ultimate goal of the Federalist Society and the Catholic Church, both of whom are well represented in the current systemically corrupt administration
2
So many employees and questionable contacts with ties to Russia, and all by chance? Trump is worse than sloppy, and his campaign was run in a deliberate manner that involved Russian influence. The 2016 campaign staff gave voter data to Russian experts so propaganda in key states could be more efficiently administered to unwitting voters. That alone should raise enough questions about Trump’s association with Russia to invite impeachment.
538
@Barbara Snider
Republicans consider any advantage to be necessary to exploit. The short term gain is all that matters. They have no ability to consider the long term consequences of their behavior. The Russian involvement clearly enabled their less than half of the voters to prevail. That is all that matters to them.
63
@Casual Observer --they have the ability to consider the long term consequences. They chose to ignore those consequences.
3
@Casual Observer
Yes. Can we stop compromising with them yet?
2
The unbiased report that shows errors were made but does not prove in any way that the investigations were politically motivated. It goes without saying that Barr will announce a "summary" before release of the actual report to the public that will only mention the errors and make no mention of its finding no political bias.
This absolute refusal to accept the facts, know as the truth, by the Justice Department and the Republicans makes voting in 2020 to remove these traitors to our constitution from office
482
@philly
Only one candidate has decades of connection to the mob and to Russian money launderers, only one candidate was openly, on live TV, asking favors from Russia.
71
@philly you need to read the Mueller report you seemed quit confused on the actual facts. There was no lie to get a FISA report.
24
@philly Out of 500 warrents one didn't have all the boxes checked. No this does not worry me, what does worry me is trump pushing the Putin line time and again.
41
The AG of the US is "skeptical". What else did we expect from Trumps personal lawyer who parades as the AG of the US. And he is on our payroll. When you sleep with dogs you get flee's
33
Watching Trump and his minions reaction to the report. They are saying the report shows the one of the worst things that has ever happened to our country. In other words, they are lying out of their teeth. Unfortunately, I would suspect, Trump followers will buy the lies.
17
"Mr. Horowitz’s mixed findings may offer vindication for both critics and allies of Mr. Trump." What a shocker! The purveyor of bad political reporting again uses bothsidesim. Will it ever stop?
12
I suppose when Trump declares himself President-for-Life, William Barr will discover a justification for that.
23
@Harry Finch: Wow. Democrats have no memory. If anyone among the 2020 contenders has shown an inclination to be a dictator it's Michael Bloomberg. Have you all forgotten (already!) how he railroaded his way into a third term as mayor of NYC? Christine Quinn hasn't. She ruined her political career supporting Bloomberg's con job.
2
@Joe Schmoe - There are plenty of Democrats who dislike Bloomberg for that very reason.
3
With Barr rejecting the report, we clearly see that Barr is engaged in criminal activity with the President. You see the Wrecking Crew administration in action, out to ruin the departments that they oversee. T
he Trump and Barr "investigate the investigators" ploy has made the FBI and CIA agents paranoid about investigating hacking in 2020. Trump and Barr have given a clear signal to Putin to hack away. At what point do we call this treason?
38
How can anyone trust the FBI reading this analysis. Whether you are a Dem or Rep it shouldn't matter, the FBI played very loose with the facts in order to justify opening an investigation that has wrought chaos within the USA and its political system. Horowitz' attempt to put lipstick on a pig doesn't make the pig look any prettier.
18
@philly: First you condemn the FBI on the basis of the IG report, then question the accuracy of the same report (i.e., "put lipstick on a pig"). So which is it?
If you'd actually read the analysis, you wouldn't have made this comment in the first place. In the Executive Summary, for example, it states "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open the four individual investigations," (p. iv) and "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI' s decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page." The motivation and authority of the FBI to conduct this investigation was not challenged in the report.
What the report does is note procedural errors as well as gaps in the policies regulating investigations of presidential campaigns. This is not a surprise given the magnitude, novelty, and sensitivity of the investigation.
Before you make such unsupported assertions about the report, you should actually read it.
2
@Lew
The FBI's IG report, and the Times article, makes it very clear that they, the FBI, withheld, omitted, falsified, and fabricated evidence to justify a FISA court request to wiretap, and did it multiple times. As the article points out, top officials at the FBI were fired, while others left under a black cloud, yet all the Dems can do is cheer because the report says there was no political bias. The idea that the FBI thought it could get away with this type of behavior is appalling in of itself, but to do this when directed at a presidential campaign and think they could get away with it is even more amazing. It says a lot about the institutional character/rot of the leading law enforcement agency in the land, so I stand by my comment that the lipsticked pig is still not very pretty.
2
@philly: "...the FBI, withheld, omitted, falsified, and fabricated evidence to justify a FISA court request to wiretap, and did it multiple times."
It's funny. I actually quoted the IG report in two places to the effect that it concludes, "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open the four individual investigations." Many similar conclusions are contained in the report.
Yet somehow you've extrapolated this to falsification and fabrication, two serious charges. Neither of those words appear in the article or in the report! And unfortunately for your interpretation, the IG recommended possible prosecution for only one FBI agent, suggesting that he doesn't believe there was a widespread plot among "top officials" (as you call them) or as you hysterically call it, the "institutional character/rot of the leading law enforcement agency in the land."
What he didn't say was that the FISA warrant was illegal or that any cases based on warrant should be thrown out. Six Trump operatives were convicted of offenses related to interference in the election and dozens more Russian GRU agents were indicted. Republicans screaming about the FBI violating FISA rules while at the same time ignoring the Russian interference in our election shows how distorted their priorities have become. We were attacked by Russia and all Republicans can do is attack every one else who says Trump was involved.
2
Agree with other commenters. This investigation has been the tantalizing cutlet of pro-Trump crowd for months, from Fox News to right-wing radio hosts (every last one of them). And also of a few Putin apologists on the left, like Prof. emeritus Cohen. Now they'll await future breadcrumbs re the "pro-Clinton intelligence services", going after Trump and fomenting "Russophobia" and war.
5
@Mason
Impressive that a ‘progressive’ listens to Fox and right-wing radio.
Who knew...
2
Considering how Barr misrepresented the Mueller report by enabling trump to claim "complete vindication ", I surely do not care to read Barrs dismissal or, even his opinion, of this IG report. Especially quoting Barr within the first few paragraphs- he deserves only an afterthought, if any mention at all.
30
Everyone in Trump's orbit looks miserable.
I often wonder how they feel at night as they look in the mirror and think back to the lies they told that day, the lives they ruined, the people they hurt.....
Do they ever ask themselves if it was worth it?
18
@DR No, they don't, in either case. And they don't think or are about how historians and future generations will analyze and interpret their activities. But their children and grandchildren will when they discover how corrupt and venal and completely out of step they were with the ideas and ideals that underlay this nation's founding and evolution.
Small consolation, I suppose.
3
These guys are all going to need DC jobs next year.
3
Time to investigate the investigators who investigated first. AG Barr has little time to come up with the charges that Trump wants and can use for the 2020 election. Too bad the Trump GOP can't arrest someone today. That is what they were hoping for. Trump has his eye on Comey for sure.
Don't worry Donald, Billy Barr is on it and maybe he could use Rudy Giuliani to help him? Or Duncan Hunter? He has time on his hands now.
15
Now tell me, in a partisan environment that we have today, do you really think AG Barr would come up with any other statement, just one ounce of iota evidence, that would discredit the Democrats? Let's face it, Barr himself is no star of justice, and is considered just another minion of Trump. The sooner Barr leaves the sooner America can return to safeguarding the rights of American citizens.
15
Comey and his FBI agents used anti-Trump Russia dossier to get spy warrants on president's campaign allies despite being told author Christopher Steele was biased and his sources were flawed, reveals DOJ inspector general in scathing report
13
@P&L What article were you reading? "The report found that Mr. Steele’s information was not used in the opening of the Russia investigation, as Mr. Trump’s allies have frequently but falsely suggested as part of their claim that the F.B.I. spied on the Trump campaign as part of a politicized plot.
But the inspector general also determined that F.B.I. did not place informants or undercover agents in the campaign, and it did not ask them to “report on the Trump campaign.” Nor did the inspector general find evidence that undercover agents or informants were told to meet with Trump campaign officials before the opening of Crossfire Hurricane. Members told the inspector general that no investigative steps were before the actual opening of the investigation in late July 2016.
Instead, it confirms that the F.B.I. opened the inquiry after WikiLeaks began publicly releasing hacked Democratic emails and officials learned that a Trump campaign aide had previously bragged to a pair of Australian diplomats of knowing that Russia had dirt on Mrs. Clinton in the form of hacked emails it was willing to release anonymously to help Mr. Trump."
5
@P&L I think the opposite happened actually.
The most terrifying and sickening thing about the Trump era is the destruction of truth by the right wing. Self-government is not possible without a common set of shared facts. That might be the goal - run the truth, let the authoritarians rule.
5
@P&L: "We did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI' s decision to seek FISA authority on
Carter Page.", IG Report, p. vi
5
Okay, I've had it!
Time to investigate the investigators who were investigating the investigation!
10
Barr is Trump's personal lawyer and should be impeached as AG. His loyalty is to the corrupt and venal president, not to this country as a whole. He made this absolutely clear when he wrote his corrupt letter begging to be AG. His fealty is only to Trump. He should be impeached but the cult of Trump will support him as he follows the trail blazed by Jim Jones's leadership circle so many years ago.
12
The cliché that instead of malice aforethought hubris, ignorance and incompetence explains most human activity is exposed here.
I suspect that our Siberian President Donald Trump will ask his Czar Father Vladimir Putin to offer a Russian military intelligence aka G.R.U., Russian domestic intelligence F.S.B. and Russian foreign intelligence aka S.V.R. second opinion on our Inspector General Report.
8
Removing Barr, who instigated this ill-advised investigation, is as important as removing Trump in 2020. All these moronic and unproven sub-plots suggested by Republicans battling the legitimate need to protect our sovereignty from Russian interference are threats to our national security.
Our Attorney General is nothing more than a partisan hack and he proves it every time he opens his mouth. He lied to the American public about the Mueller Report, and then lied under oath about whether he had knowledge of how Mueller felt about the misleading narrative he had given the public. Days later it was revealed that two letters had been written by Mueller stating he strongly objected to the "content, nature, and substance" of Barr's false interpretation. It would soon be clear that Barr was no representing our country, but was only a henchman for Trump.
America, we are better then this.
21
@Stephen Sorry for the typo 'no representing' instead of 'not representing' and 'then that' instead of 'than that.' Since I wrote this I've seen a bizarre response from the president about the IG Report where he seems to not understand that the report is said to fully debunks the conspiracy claims by Trump and Barr. I'm sure Barr will try his best to spin these findings and again try to mislead the public and further disgrace his office.
Given that Barr is still pitching conspiracy theories and lying about the IG report, it seems wise that someone leaked the key findings ahead of the release. It prevented Barr from spinning the report with lies the same way he spun the Mueller Report with lies.
8
For Republicans, the purpose of an investigation is not to find out the truth but to generate talking points with which to obscure the truth. As Barr's reaction demonstrates, they will find something to seize on in here, or they will investigate Horowitz, or both. One thing is certain: they will leave no stone unturned in their effort to bury the truth.
8
Hey, were human. Humans are not without mistakes but they are not blatant lies like the gop is doling out now and over the last 20 or so years.
6
Therefore, Trumps fear that the Russia Investigation would uncover negative things about his involvement with Putin & Russia sent led to his attacks on the investigation. No one ever said that it was specifically about him
So it was okay for POTUS to order a foreign country to initiate a public investigation of Biden and his son, but not okay for the FBI to initiate an investigation into the possibility Trump might be cooperating with the Russians when he was publicly asking for help from Putin?
Seems weirdly inconsistent for Barr to suggest that what the FBI sometimes known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation was doing was not justified, while not also appreciating how wrong it was for Trump to coerce the Ukrainian government do a public investigation when the President had already been told there was no there there with Biden . They all know how corrupt Trump is and just don't care.
Can the Republican Party and Mr. Barr be any more hypocritical?
12
But if you do not push to keep the truth front and center, Trump’s lies will rule the day.
6
“found that the F.B.I. had adequate reason in 2016 to open an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia. Mr. Horowitz broadly rejected Mr. Trump’s allegations that F.B.I. officials conspired to sabotage his campaign, but Mr. Barr highlighted findings that underscored his and the president’s shared view that investigators were nonetheless overly invasive in scrutinizing people associated with a presidential campaign.” — text taken from adjacent article.
Indeed, the FBI _may_ have overstepped but we’re talking about the highest office in the country, if not the world. No country should be so casual.
Mr. Barr, this drama is still playing out. It is not finished. And yes, once again, you and your cohorts are on the wrong side of history.
When America falls, when the Democrats are vanquished, and the capitalists (Republicans) take over, pillaging everything in sight, it will be a glorious day in the eyes of many.
But Putin will insert himself, taking all of the plunder. And the oppressive thumb of Socialist Russia will bare down, suffocating all who are underneath.
And the Republicans will curse their new overlords. And the Democrats, although vanquished, will obtain cold comfort amid the horror.
2
Instead of having a president who will strongly protect our democracy against foreign interference, we have an ongoing fight over how the investigations were done and who said what in a secret email to whom. Meanwhile Putin licks his lips and plans his next moves.
4
So mistakes were made regarding FISA warrants for surveillance of Carter Page. What does that have to do with everything else??
NOTHING. The investigation was justified and Trump obstructed justice and likely perjured himself in the written testimony to Robert Mueller.
7
Wouldn't the people involved basically have to admit political bias for the IG to find it since their investigative powers are so limited?
4
.....claims about his 2016 interactions with Russians came from a notorious dossier of opposition research collected by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent "paid by Democrats"....
This is almost always incorrectly reported. Republicans started the Steele Dossier during the primaries. Even Fusion GPS said so in an op-ed in the Times last week.
Please quit saying "paid by the Democrat's", and say "paid by both parties!"
8
As we describe in Chapter Three, the FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane on July 31, 2016, just days after its receipt of information from a Friendly Foreign Government (FFG) reporting that, in May 2016, during a meeting with the FFG, then Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos "suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs. Clinton (and President Obama)."
That's a legitimate reason to have commenced the investigation. AG Barr is treasonous to continue suggesting otherwise.
7
So much for a nuanced headline. Listening to Trump's team spin this, they have already shortened the headline - "Inspector Inspector General Report on F.B.I. Russia Inquiry Finds Serious Errors."
By tomorrow morning, Barr will have a new "summary" which will further muddy the waters. Their followers will swallow it whole. Of course, no one will read the report.
This is an up is down world.
6
Are we basically saying that we have a dishonest, corrupt administration that is willing to sell the country out to Russia, and there is nothing that we can do about it?
6
I am saddened by the onslaught daily attack on the truth. This will only add to the division because of the way the conservative media will "paint this". Of course The AG has already publicly disagreed with the report of his own department. The man in the oval office will agree with his AG and continue to tweet his lies. As the house holds hearings on where the impeachment proceeds there is a attack on truth. Facts mean nothing and the divide is so visible.
14
@TFPLD No; facts mean nothing to Republicans. The rest of us are petty good at distinguishing fact from fiction.
5
The policies of certain administrations have left me cold: Nixon struck me as duplicitous; the best of brightest of the JFK and then LBJ administrations lied to us about the Vietnam War--an act of mendacity that apparently was duplicated in George W Bush's administration. Reagan's economic voodoo is still not working and in fact, has led us down a path of such economic disparity from which we might never recover. It is the Trump administration's personalities and policies that for the first time in my long life, however, that I find irrevocably dangerous. William Barr is a threat to our democracy and should be removed from office. The partisan politics of Mitch McConnell have tarnished our moral standing within our country and outside of it. Trump, himself is enemy number one--relentlessly working to dismantle alliances that have kept world peace for decades and kowtowing to known tyrants. Never mind that his chronic dishonesty has alienated our most important allies and has isolated us from the world community. If he is re-elected, we may never again regain our stature as a beacon of hope and democracy. The president and his men are a threat to all of us.
16
Well, if anyone merited FBI surveillance it was Carter Page. As a Reagan Republican, I've been concerned from day one about Trump's affinity for Putin and weakness on Russia. Page is a pro-Russian gadfly who insinuated himself into the Trump campaign. In fact the Trump team was littered with pro-Putin folks like jailed campaign chairman Paul Manafort (on the Russian side of the Ukrainian democratic revolution) and Mr. Russia TV himself Michael Flynn. Trump who suggested the Russian invasion of Crimea was ok, even today spouts Moscow talking points to shift the U.S. election meddling blame to Ukraine. Investigations were warranted.
7
MSNBC keeps saying Comey, McCabe, Stzrok and Page were "exonerated", and that there was no political bias. In fact, the report doesn't "exonerate" anyone. The report only says the IG did not find documentary or testimonial evidence of bias. It says that while Strzok was previously noted for bias, there were multiple individuals involved in the decision making. So it doesn't seem like Strzok's fellow decision makers had a series of politically biased texts to their lovers. There was no exoneration, only an absence of evidence. It seems like nobody in that small group threw their colleagues under the bus. Good for them. Not an exoneration.
7
@TL my goodness! I’m sure you were the same person cheering the exoneration of the Mueller report.
6
@TL
Isn't that the same thing Trump said about the Mueller report that they knocked him on. The media isn't even trying to hide their bias.
1
So the FBI had agents rooting for Trump but you never hear about this nor was there any administrative or other action taken against them. Yet Trump does a comedy routine on Strzok.
"A footnote cited other F.B.I. officials who supported Mr. Trump’s campaign and expressed hostility toward Mrs. Clinton. It quoted text messages celebrating his surprise electoral win, including one by an agent who later explained to the inspector general that he was glad Mrs. Clinton lost because “I didn’t want a criminal in the White House.” The report similarly does not accuse these officials of taking official actions based on their personal political opinions."
5
@SXM
Of course FBI agents have a preferred candidate. At the end of the day they are citizens like everyone else (or at least the vast majority are). The issue is not that government employees might have biases the issue is whether or not they act on them and particularly whether or not they take official actions to benefit their preferred candidate or hurt their opponent (which is actually illegal during an election).
2
I will be glad when we finally have an Attorney General that works for the people of the United States of America, and isn't bought and paid for.
12
No one tethered to reality denies Russia aggressively worked to elect Trump, encouraged and aided by senior Trump operatives.
Our national security teams were obliged to investigate this brazen attack on our democracy.
In supporting Russian over our nation’s interests now, Barr shows he like Trump and so many in the GOP is a Putin asset.
Why?
7
It's obvious where this is heading. Republicans in Congress are, at this very moment, pushing a narrative in which the Trump administration and his campaign are merely doing the same thing that the Obama administration did when they witheld military aid to Ukraine. They are accusing Democrats of starting an investigation without cause, just as the Trump administration did when it tried to get Ukraine to make a public statement about Biden. Listening to some hysterical Republican blowhard on the Justice committee right now, claiming that the gathering of evidence and the building of a case is a "drive-by." Their whole strategy relies upon makimg the public believe that "both sides" are equally engaged in the same shennanigans, because they know that people living in media bubbles will believe whatever propaganda their "side" is pushing.
5
Barr can spin it all he wants, but I will continue to believe that Trump, and many of the GOP defenders (e.g., Graham) are rubes for the Russians. There's something there, and it was and is worth continued scrutiny.
8
I have trouble with this finding. There was never any evidence that the Trump campaign was working with the Russians. This seems like another cover-up to me.
4
@Tom - Do you really think everyone connected with Trump cozied up to the Russians merely because they're so cuddly?
2
This entire matter has become so confused in the public mind as to be almost irrelevant from either a legal or a political perspective. It may wind up helping Trump politically, in that supporters will be further energized and a few voters on the fence may be helped to swing Trump's way. One-tenth of one percent of the population has followed this matter closely, and even most of them aren't sure what all the facts are or what they mean. Elements of the FBI once again acted according to their own whims rather than the letter of the law. The Bureau has gone from being an outlaw organization under Hoover to a semi-outlaw one under his successors. And yet the world's too dangerous a place to just smash the FBI into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds, which in an ideal world would be its proper fate.
6
I find the behavior pointed out here by the FBI to be immensely disappointing, inappropriate and scandalous.
They are supposed to be above reproach and operate with the highest degree of integrity.
If this report does anything, it highlights that their culture has broken down to some degree and it must be corrected.
Omitting facts and altering emails should be a concern for all citizens.
I do not feel good about the the state of these agencies today.
12
The fundamental issue here is the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Yes, the FBI should have dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s. The rules are there for a reason: to protect citizens from an over-zealous government and make sure there are sound reasons for surveillance.
None of that, however, changes the fact that Russia interfered in our election, and will do so again. Trump’s only interest, unfortunately, is self-interest. In numerous public statements he has made this clear, and demonstrated that at the least his self-interest overrules his concern for our country, and at worst represents the possibility that he is a bought and paid for agent of a foreign government.
That, not FBI alleged malfeasance, which the IG report shows were errors not conspiracy, should be our focus.
6
During the '50s and '60s, the FBI started targeting not just spies and gangsters, but radicals defined as leftist Viet Nam Protestors, Civil Rights activists, and Black Nationalists. Even though the FBI eventually reformed itself into a respectable investigative agency, I don't remember the left becoming enamored of the FBI or as ardently supportive of the agency as Republicans have always been.
So it was quite a surprise to many of us when Trump came along and accused the Democrats of colluding with the FBI to win the election for Hillary. Even more surprising was the GOP's unquestioning acceptance of Trump's allegations. History went down a black hole and hasn't been seen since.
5
At this point in time, what does it matter? Trump and his captains, minions and hordes, waiting for the final showdown, will dismiss anything that doesn't fit their leaders narrative.
This issue is between the forces of darkness and light now, and there is only one way to resolve it. Everybody knows it, but nobody says a word, for different reasons. We shall see what will happen around December 2020...
2
"Investigators uncovered 'no documentary or testimonial evidence' that political bias affected how officials conducted the investigation"
How ironic that it is precisely the political bias of AG Barr that causes him to object to his investigator's conclusions.
6
The Russia inquiry uncovered numerous instances of state-sponsored interference in the 2016 election; said interference was carried out to solely benefit Mr. Trump’s candidacy. Mr. Trump was the Russian Federation’s choice for President.
Individuals who were active in Mr. Trump’s campaign were tried and convicted based on evidence the Russia inquiry uncovered, and a dozen Russian officers were indicted. There is no doubt that the Russian Federation interfered with the 2016 campaign on Mr. Trump’s behalf.
The Republicans are attempting to discredit the Russia inquiry’s findings by nit-picking for irregularities in the process. Expect much bombastic squawking from Republican party hacks as they toss out red herrings by the bushel, but remember two things: Russia wanted Trump to win and the Russia Inquiry uncovered how Russian agents operated.
6
"Substantial dysfunction” is hardly ringing approval. This will nourish Trump's theories even further.
2
These are the facts but we no longer live in a world that respects facts. How this story is reported in the media throughout the country, how much credence will be given to Trump's assertion that this report is a lie and to "alternate facts" from Barr is what is crucial to the understanding by ordinary voters. The mess we are in from Trump and co-conspirators is so tangled that it is confusing, to say the least, to those whose appetite for the news consists of a few quick headlines.
1
Some older politicians and (former) bureaucrats, who have no realistic chance to revive their careers either in Govt or in private organizations like William Barr, Rudy Giuliani, Wilbur Ross etc, are becoming the loudest cheerleaders for Trump and his policies mainly to benefit themselves financially and/or politically. These people were reasonably balanced in the past. That time they probably resisted to act on personal religious belief and/or financial interest.
Now they are more desperate to enjoy power and/or money by acting on christian fundamentalist belief and supporting a person like Trump at any cost, as they have almost no fear for future career- political or otherwise.
56
@Bonku
Of the three names you mentioned, Barr is the one who would seem to have the most to lose. Why he associates himself with Trump and continues to personally defend him is a mystery. He’s sunk to the bottom of the swamp with all of the other Trump cronies, sullying whatever legacy he leaves.
9
In a well functioning healthy democracy, this report
would receive a thorough bipartisan airing within an appropriate legislative committee. It would be analyzed in a dispassionate objective manner by leading media outlets, which would then take it upon themselves to inform the general public of its contents and distinguish between its conclusions and
what conspiratorialists have been fantasizing about for
three years.
The matter would then recede from public attention,
which would then move to a far more pressing issue for
the next 10 months. That is, what is this country now doing
to secure its election infrastructure. Is it really doing
everything possible to do so? If not, what more is needed.
This too would be treated with all the gravity and bipartisanship it merits. A national forum on this would convene and issue its recommendations quickly and in time
for them to do good next November.
In parallel, stewards of public trust in social media companies would not hide behind stale bromides that are disconnected from how their technology is actually used and can be exploited. They would commit their companies to redoing
how disinformation and hate speech is detected and treated.
Such actions would help maintain the health of the underlying democracy.
But what will this democracy choose to do instead?
32
@bl
"The matter would then recede from public attention,
which would then move to a far more pressing issue for the next 10 months. That is, what is this country now doing to secure its election infrastructure. Is it really doing everything possible to do so? If not, what more is needed."
So you don't think the FBI lying to judges to get warrants and the extremely lax oversight of the FBI/DOJ in general is a big problem? If our own government isn't even upholding the constitution what difference does it make if Russia/Ukraine/China influence our elections?
3
@bl "This democracy" is an interesting way to term the Trump administration and its destructive wrecking ball shredding everything that makes government function for the people. Barr is an horrific excuse for an attorney general.
5
@Keith didn’t even read the article much less the report did you.
2
Well at least we didn't have to live with 24/7 saturated, hysterical, biased media coverage for 3 years claiming all these rumors were true only to learn they were not...as we unfortunately did during the Russia collusion coverage which promised serious wrongdoing but also found none.
But the real story is this: the Dossier which set all of this in motion was the work of Russian intelligence designed to sow chaos and division in this country. Everybody...the FBI, the Dems, the Repubs...all were manipulated by Putin and fell for everyone of his tricks. Even today's impeachment is the result of Putin's hijinks. It's time for this country to stop this civil war and face the enemy that is feeding our worst self-destructive instincts: Putin's Russia.
26
@rpe123 Apparently, you haven't read the Mueller report. There is plenty of collusion in there, and of course obstruction.
8
@rpe123 You're mostly right but it wasn't the dossier that set all this into motion. That
s already been debunked.
6
@rpe123 - I don't understand why people who don't read the news feel compelled to comment on it and display their ignorance.
The Mueller report highlighted plenty of wrong doing.
12
"The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken...” -Bill Barr
There you have it folks; Trump CAN shoot someone on 5th Avenue, Central Park; the local hot-dog stand and William Barr (and the rest) Just. Won't. Give. A. ...because it's the "thin" suspicions that's the culprit.
46
That hiss is all the air going out of this particular Trump theory.
33
Don't attempt to trivialize the impact of the FBI's "mistakes". Blunders from America's formerly most trusted governmental agency are simply unacceptable. Particularly when held to the standard of the appearance of impropriety. The FBI failed miserably here. Their integrity must be restored even if it means de facto heads on pikes around the FBI HQ.
14
@Mike
Here is the problem. The actions of Trump and Barr are not designed to bring integrity to the FBI. They are designed to create a false narrative regarding Russia's role in the 2016 election.
Barr is shockingly unethical and is enabling Trump's worst instincts.
4
We will need a study of the study of the study of the study...until SOMEONE finds what Trump/Barr want.
42
@Paul C. McGlasson
I think that they just did. And I am shocked.
Every time Trump, and now Barr, too, say “it wasn’t Russia, it was Ukraine in 2016,” they are weakening Ukraine with an illegitimate smear, and they are strengthening Russia by implicitly exonerating Russia—and in many ways, through signaling in the media or even detailed communication by secret envoys, Trump and Barr are likely conspiring with Putin in these efforts.
Trump and Barr are Russian agents.
88
@Toms Quill
And now I wonder how will Trump get Russia back into the Olympics? Is this another international organization he will savage?
Will anything be left of the world order when Trump is done?
6
Democratic paranoia about Comey's investigation of those late-arising emails is the source of the paranaoia that destroyed Clinton's candidacy. So then we got Trump!
Democratic paranoia about Bernie Sanders was the battery that fuelled Comey crazineness, and Clinton's defeat. (Yeah -- Russians ... I know. But crackpot theories have a nasty tendency to blow up in their inventors' faces, provoking the opposite-from-desired outcome.
Why not let the same phenom torpedo the Childe Donald?
As Barr will summarize the report, Deep State Operatives Attempted to Sabotage Greatest American President.
15
@Dan B
Close enough. Barr very recently said:
“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr said in a statement."
Note the "in my view" part.
4
Look at the destruction of the Trump administration. Valuable employees were fired, smeared, labeled. Barr will prance out and destroy this report....as he did the Mueller report. What is Trump and his cohorts afraid of? The truth.
"Cheat on your taxes, don't be a fool,
Now what was that they said about a Golden Rule?
Never mind the rules, just play to win" Henson Cargill.
Theme song for Republicans who will cheat, lie, yell, fake hissy fit, and cover Donald Trump. UnAmerican to be sure.
23
The Deep State is a figment of a paranoid President and his loyal Attorney General will do his best to deny and disprove it.
18
It doesn't matter what the IG says. His report will be misquoted for partisan political purposes.
19
Merry Christmas. Something for everyone. FOX gets its talking points verified, at least to their satisfaction. Dems get the popping of the political prejudice balloon. Trump gets the "no collusion" (for him) substantiated. He can continue to claim "witch hunt" even though six witches are in prison. On Carlson, on Cooper on Madow and Blitzer. To the top of the ratings Merry Christmas to all and too all a good fightl.
8
The Republicans are once again screaming that the FBI is not to be trusted. But who is leading the investigation of the shooting in Pensacola?? The hypocrisy continues...
21
By the way, two things:
1. This is exactly what the Times and others reported two weeks ago, and got screeched at for lying about:
2. The errors all seem to have to do with FISA warrants—which, if you recall, the Republicans pushed as part of the Patriot Act.
32
William Barr and the Republican leadership will do anything to cover over or distract from Trump's impeachment. Trump was placed in office with massive amounts of Russian assistance. Putin has used the same digital media disinformation techniques in Britain and elsewhere to weaken western governments. He has been highly successful. Trump in the White House is a major victory for Putin. The Republican leadership is knowingly complicit in his success.
42
FACT1 - The report confirms the FBI ran confidential sources (CHS's) "spies" at the Trump campaign. FACT 2 - the FBI repeatedly omitted exculpatory evidence from the record. FACT 3 - the CIA didn't want to include the Steele Dossier in the report for the President, viewing it as internet rumors. The FBI went ahead and pushed it anyway. There's a difference between what is allowed and what is appropriate. The FBI relied on a thin allegation (denied by Mifsud) and whose provenance and context was disputed by Papadopulos and Downer, as the reason for the investigation. Finding a number of abuses, the IG weighs in on what was allowable, but does not weigh in on the appropriateness of running sources at a political campaign and the attempts to bury exculpatory evidence. That will be the subject of the Durham investigation.
4
Why the strange photograph at the lead of this story.
The whole story needs to be re-written and made much more clear.
The F.B.I. needs to be as non-partisan as possible and needs
to be free of political influence by either party.
8
@John Brown That is true of any government employee in the work they do. Yet the Republicans had no problem asking the attorneys during the impeachment inquiry, if they had voted for Trump or not. Of course, the attorneys rightfully refused to answer that question.
4
@Rita Prangle
No, there seems to be Democratic misuse of the
F.B.I. , also.
3
The report found that Mr. Steele’s information was not used in the opening of the Russia investigation, as Mr. Trump’s allies have frequently but falsely suggested as part of their claim that the F.B.I. spied on the Trump campaign as part of a politicized plot.
“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr said in a statement that echoed his willingness to act as Mr. Trump’s defender at the end of the special counsel investigation that grew out of the Russia inquiry.
Of course it is not clear, nor evident the FBI launched an intrusive investigation. Sorry, Mr. Barr.
Attorney General William P. Barr, who was said to be skeptical of Mr. Horowitz’s conclusion that officials had a proper basis to open the Russia investigation, praised the inspector general but reiterated his longstanding complaints about the F.B.I. inquiry, saying the bureau’s “malfeasance and misfeasance” detailed in the report reflected a “clear abuse” of the wiretap application.
Barr lies again. It is so sad that no one on team Trump can actually look at things and divine the truth. A couple of errors means, our entire government is corrupt, but when the aggrieved side makes thousands of claims errors, etc., it means nothing.
Simply pathetic they operate on a level of Bart Simpson.
20
If this were a criminal investigation, the errors and omissions cited would be a reasonable basis for a mistrial. However, in the case of a presidential candidate attempting to facilitate and utilize the support of a foreign government in an American election, such shortcomings are objectively immaterial.
5
So how long will it be before Trump and the Trumpistas demand an investigation of the IG's "obviously crooked" investigation of the FBI investigation? I'm betting... three days?
11
What would 'Evidence of Political Bias' have looked like if they had been able to 'find' it?
6
1. Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia, no question.
2. Trump is aware the Steele dossier is genuine and it's existence looms ominously even more than the Mueller investigation.
3. Trump will continue to lie and assess blame on Obama long after Mueller has uncovered collusion and obstruction.
There are two crimes here. One, the deliberate manipulation of the electoral process and second, the deliberate cover up of the manipulation.
21
Barr has already noted his disagreements. AG Barr, I am sorry that you disagree with the referee that has reviewed all the instant replay videos and the rule books over the past many months.
9
many of the people in this place are hard of hearing. you mean to tell me that someone couldn't tell that their line was being tapped? Guess not. Bluetooth and other radio-based methods are super easy to tap/intercept. hardwires are only a little more difficult. Privacy? Dream on. wifi? what a joke.
2
Odd - Were I to make a false report with the FBI. I would be charged with committing a crime. Mr. Trump has continuously stated to the public that former president Obama tapped his phones and investigated him illegally.
Why is Mr. Trump not charged?
34
The hearings could conclude with a deus ex machina with god coming down from the heavens and literally informing Congress and the world that Trump and his conspirators are guilty of holding up arms for political dirt on a potential rival with the subsequent lies to the American people and cover-ups, and the Republicans would still cry "deep state conspiracy" and "fake news". At least the Democrats are engaging in what is right. It's important for America today and it will be important for the historical record. History will not look kind upon Trump's enablers and their obfuscation of reality for political ends.
12
So Attorney General Barr believes what he likes and remains skeptical about what he doesn’t like in the Inspector General’s report. So what else is new? I am sick and tired of the manipulation and obfuscation practiced by the Republicans and I wish there were more Democrats, who are in a position to do so, who would say the same.
16
Now hopefully Trump, Barr and his Republican defenders will finally, finally admit that the real "hoax" and the real "witch hunt" is that the F.B.I., despite some missteps, did not spy on the Trump campaign, but investigated it for legitimate reasons. Now in the spirit of the truth and the season, restore Andrew McCabe's pension and stop attacking Lisa Page! It's time to end the attempt to undermine and corrupt the F.B.I. which is the nation's main defense against criminal behavior. Of course, that being said, explains it all.
22
The report will say one set of things..and Trump will spin it as though it said another set of things.
Trump is a master at presenting a red box on a white sheet of paper and convincing his followers the box is actually blue.
Truth means nothing anymore in the US it seems ... and when that happens in a nation... the nation is on a persistent pathway of long term collapse. It is a persistent form of social corruption and it is not healthy for the nation.
14
That is exactly what he is doing!
1
" . . ..when it mattered most — with the stakes the greatest and no room for error — F.B.I. officials still made numerous and serious mistakes . . ..."
This is now standard cut & paste text that has become required for reporting on the FBI. Malheur NWR occupation? Total acquittal due to FBI mishandling of evidence & disingenuous testimony. Same for the Bundy ranch standoff, same for the gymnastics child-abuse cases (continued for months even after the FBI knew what was happening), & others I could pull up in 10 minutes. The outfit just does not work very well, & justice is the victim, along with all of us saps who grew up thinking our top administrators were at least competent, or at worst could be corrected or replaced by others who *are* competent. Whichever way (left or right) the bias falls, it is this kind of sloppiness & incompetence that drives the prevalent perception on both sides that our government is not up to the task, & that any actual remedies are way out of reach or impossible delusions.
4
Please stop with the "one low level employee". This is a transparent attempt to distract the reader and lowers your credibility. “Low-level employees” are not assigned to sensitive operations involving counterintelligence against a major-party presidential campaign. Hand-picked senior employees get that honor. The individual is an attorney for the FBI. In addition, the individual committed two felonies. Altering the document and making a false statement that he could back up the document.
7
@Daphne
You are so right, but you must expect the Time's to spin this in the most dismissive way possible to appease their liberal base of subscribers.
Sadly, these days we need to read multiple newspapers and then weave together the truth somehow to overcome the biases of the author's and their Editorial Boards.
This is not an easy thing to do and not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.
Sadly, many here, think that if they read it in the Time's it must be true.
I don't share their unquestionable loyalty.
5
@Daphne
The individual is an attorney for the FBI.."
could still BE a low level employee. The USA has a surfeit of lawyers, and they are rarely on a pedistal-or "high" leel employee.
1
@dve commenter
Could BE a low level employee or IS a low level employee? Big difference.
Wouldn't putting a low level attorney (one who presumedly passed the bar and knows not to tamper with evidence already) on this be a dereliction of duty showing further misjudgment here ? If they were low level, shouldn't they have been supervised more ?
This is being too easily dismissed and downplayed. This should outrage everyone
3
Once again, will facts matter? Certainly not to Trump but what about Republicans in the Senate and House? The consequences of hate know no bounds if they remain blind to the truths.
9
It’s good to practice self assessment, hindsight, to understand what could have been done differently or better. We do it all the time with football games and theatrical performances. And in some cases (police shootings for example) getting things exactly right is especially important. But I’d like to think this particular matter is a one-off result of the President’s personal immorality and corruption, and his influence on and empowerment of other bad people. If mistakes were made in exposing a crime, that’s too bad- if ever investigators get better at this sort of thing thru practice we’re all doomed.
118
@Brian Cornelius
"a one-off result of the President’s personal immorality and corruption"
ONE-off ?
25
Unanswered questions abound and at the top of this list is why is the President of the United States willing and sadly able to overthrow the intelligence community and their findings with help from the nation's Attorney General?
The Attorney General, William Barr is the Chief law enforcement officer of the U.S. This position represents law and order and is supposed to serve and protect the essence of what our Constitution and our laws represent; the power for what is right and lawful.
The American public is watching as our President flaunts and thumbs his nose at the rule of law that is supposed to guide us with the willing participation of the Attorney General. Something is is wrong here.
640
@Viv
"Since when is it "right and lawful" to mislead a secret court so you can surveil someone for an extended period of time, and as it turns out for no reason? "
Nobody claims this.
30
@Viv Can you read? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/09/us/politics/fbi-ig-report-document.html
23
@Diane
Maybe you missed this part "Mr. Clinesmith altered the email so that it stated that Mr. Page was “not a source,”
You don't find this outrageou!!!
Altering information for an investigation of this magnitude! How is this condoned? If people within these agencies feel free to do this with investigations of this importance, what do they do when the whole world isn't watching?
This is a horrifying finding.
The Left used to be very suspicious of governments spying on people and watching citizens.
I guess their unbridled hatred for Trump has now made that okay.
14
One thing that we should certainly expect from the inspector general's report about the FBI's conduct that precipitated the Russia investigation, is that no matter how much the report rejects Trump's allegations that there was a conspiracy to take him down, Sean Hannity and other Trump sycophants will claim that the report completely delegitimizes the Russia investigation and justifies Trump's obstruction of it.
457
@Jay Orchard Much of what the Trumpsters of the administration and in Congress put out there might seem silly, crazy, or just plain wrong, and one might wonder why they're being so obviously "off". The reason is, Trump's Fox and Sinclair Friends will cherry pick that stuff and the True Believers that only follow those outlets, either directly or through insular social media memes, will never see the whole story that puts the lie to the excerpts they are presented with.
They might never know that Nunes has communicated by phone several times with Giuliani's indicted probable co-conspirator, evidently about Ukrainegate. They might never know that, in the full testimony of Prof. Turley, the Republican Constitutional expert from last week, Turley basically said that he didn't think there was yet enough proof that Trump et al. did what Democrats are accusing them of, but if the proof exists, what they are accusing him of is impeachable. (I can see eight ways you can excerpt his statements to tell a completely different story.)
That, folks, is Soviet-style misinformation and propaganda.
59
@Jay Orchard
Guarantee that those in the Fox bubble hear nothing but Barr's criticism and unwillingness to accept the findings, and that's all the "truth" they'll need.
48
@Jay Orchard
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has denied hacking and meddling in the American 2016 campaign and election in order to get Trump elected.
And Trump accepts Putin's claim of innocence in conflict with the unanimous findings of every American intelligence agency to the contrary.
16
Who are we kidding? This will not change Trump’s narrative or his delusional take on the facts not one iota. All he needs to do is continue his campaign of confusion and paranoia, scapegoat the media and government agencies, and the acolytes both in Congress and out in the hinterlands will fall, once again, right into lockstep. Like any true autocrat, the truth is what HE says it is. Why else would he have been touting the release of this report days prior?
This man has taken us all down a very toxic rabbit hole. It is very easy to connect all the dots here. So many smoking guns it’s a wonder we all can still take a breath.
847
@MDB "... his delusional take on the facts not one iota." There's nothing delusional about it...or him. He's fully aware of the truth that he desperately wants to hide.
56
@kenneth
Trump is just hoping that other people can be deluded. Unfortunately for him, except for his hard-core base and those too close to him to see clearly, I don't think anyone is confused.
26
Where's the report already? I've had people on facebook telling me oh, you just wait until this report comes out, its gonna show you some things.
3
@Dan B It's there embedded in this article. In the first sentence. But it's possible that was inserted w/in the last 9 minutes since you commented. But it's there now.
GOP screaming and Yelling "See!!" When they were Not spied on.FBI made mistakes; GOP made Crimes
32
“Expected”? Why not tell us instead, what the report says?
1
Of course, Republicans, most of who believe Jesus rode a dinosaur, will be convinced by this.
Sad that the media, including the Times, still thinks the GOP is a normal political party, instead of a cult devoted to the worship of Trump.
41
why is it so hard to get this"gum off of my shoe"? Trump sticks to everything..he is a nightmare for the entire world! We may have to see 4 more years from this troll, and then let the Southern district shred the empire with the tax evasion, and numerous other charges..the next President will be a Dem, correct the ship, and certainly not pardon this horrible human being..
12
The painful, desperate spin of findings has to be hammered home in the headline itself, to make sure it ensnares even casual browsers of the front page.
This publication will obviously not admit anything it can avoid admitting on the Trump-Russia story, it will deny anything it can conceiviably continue to deny, and as this story shows will continue this pathetic attempt to refute even basic observations. Three years of pushing ridiculous conspiracies is difficult to let go of, its tough to admit we were wrong about something we argued so forcefully, for so long.
11
Like I said, what you guys share with UFO-ologists and Zapruder film buffs is that the absence of evidence is the evidence, because why is the evidence being hidden if there’s no evidence?
6
So true! Barr and Durham do not agree either. Horowitz is another bureaucrat that has no power to look at other agencies. So, he finds the FBI’s “standard for spying” very low and he did find spying going on w many mistakes made in the FISA process, etc. I’m sure Dems will argue nothing to see but let’s see what Durham says since he strongly disagrees w Horowitz’s report.
2
This hasty review of the IG report is by no means either accurate or definitive, since you've only had time to see the trailer. And the report itself is only the curtain going up on the actual show we've paid to see.
6
Barr will highlight a few sentences and claim Witch Hunt while ignoring the 400 pages of findings. It will be another Mueller news conference where the media will roll over and report what ever Barr claims is the truth. There are liars, big liar, and then there are Barr and Trump.
19
Yet another example of the reality that Barr is not working on the behalf of the American people, the justice department or the constitution, but is Trump’s lawyer and apologist.
19
Like all of this absurdity: we are in a world where right and wrong doesn't seem to matter. Facts vs Lies don't matter. But a good Tweet, or a good photo, or a good 7-second video clip gets the attention of tens of thousands of people. A world where someone like Kim Kardashian is not only famous but admired! How horrible society has become.
And these Tweet-reading, Instagram-following, GIF-watching, Jim Jordan-rooting, DEPLORABLES, are jeopardizing our Democracy!
24
But gee, if people ever think he's wrong, it must be the result of a plot against him..or even against our entire country and our Constitution. How many times must he explain that to you?
12
The GOP’s high priority is spending our money doing “investigations” of Democrats and those whom the party imagines are secretly Democrats. This started with non-stop, open-ended attacks on the Clintons, but have been in high gear under Obama and now are turbocharged with a narcissistic paranoiac (and manipulator) in charge. Has there been a single “investigation” (other than Bill Clinton eventually cornered into telling a lie...remember when that was wrong?) led by the GOP that has found a single thing they claimed it would find? And are there any FoxNews “friends” or their panting viewers who know or admit this?
8
My God, is trump ever right about anything. He even puts broken clocks to shame.
7
Don’t hold your breath waiting for Trump to apologize to the FBI. He’s incapable of feeling shame (see Page, Lisa). How about his party? Don’t turn blue, now.
12
Waiting for Trump to apologise to all those whose reputations he has destroyed.
No, the oaf would never stoop to ethical behaviour, who am I kidding.
13
Whew, no criminality, just incompetence and (purposeful?) bungling. Well ok, maybe one low level FBI guy may face indictment. What a relief! Those Stroyzk - Page emails referring to the " Andy Backup Plan " and anti - Trump sentiments played no role whatsoever in the carrying out of their official duties. And the Steele Dossier? Ok, maybe a bit of forgetfulness regarding full disclosure to the FISA judge. Anyway, we're safe! Let's hit it! Onward with the impeachment!
18
Yeah, we knew you’d say that. It’s physically impossible for Trumpists to accept the actual conclusions, which are that a) there were indeed some errors, and b) the investigation was legit, and legitimately revealed Russian meddling in the 2016 election, as well as some very odd behavior feom Trump and those around him.
Now, back to a ton of desperate quibbling over process, re-braying of demented conspiracy theories, personal attacks, and threats, seems to me.
11
@BD
"We refer to ourselves as 'Trumpsters' ... adherents to a political view."
Not sure an idolatrous personality cult qualifies as a political view--
3
Trump's un-changable view is that anyone who works for the government as a professional must be a Democrat, otheriwse they would be out trying to be a billionaire like him.
19
Soon we’ll have two FBI’s- one that investigates to find Trump’s predetermined results (results only he can predetermine to be true), and one that actually finds the truth. Then, depending on your party affiliation, you automatically know what really happened. And that scheme will be carried over into all the other components of government, and the media as well, where we now have Fox and WaPo/NYT. Pretty convenient, huh?
6
Barr has already indicated he didn't get the results he wanted so this result is "faulty". So Benghazi 2.0 has started... only 11 more "investigations" to go.
And remember -
The beatings will continue until morale improves!
20
@Tom Jones sounds like the number of times dems have tried to impeach trump since inauguration today
2
I'm concerned about the defamation and misuse of a great Rolling Stones lyric.
9
@Dan B How many even know what a crossfire hurricane is? But JJ Flash is an AWESOME song.
1
@Jack Bell Thank you, I missed that!
Wow, nobody admitted, or left documentary evidence that their actions were based solely on their biases. What a relief. Horowitz found the same conclusions in the Clinton investigation. Fortunately, Durham’s criminal investigation allows for subpoenas and interrogations of people not currently employed by the FBI. As far as planting undercover agents to spy on the Trump campaign, Horowitz used the qualifier “FBI”. That doesn’t clear other agencies. Investigations done internally seldom conclude dispositive evidence of criminal wrongdoing. While Horowitz won’t conclude proof of illegal activity took place, a grand jury supplied with witnesses under oath can. Let’s see how Brennan, Clapper, Weinstein, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Baker, Lynch, Powers, Rice, and Jarrett testify to under oath, before a grand jury. I’m guessing a prosecutor will find crimes were committed. Remember, when Flynn was interrogated by the FBI, McCabe and Strzok found his answers to be truthful. It didn’t take a prosecutor more than a simple reading of notes recorded long after to charge perjury. Prosecutors look for guilt, not reasons to presume honesty or innocence.
9
Bill Barr is the absolute most dishonest AG ever. Disgraced at every turn and utterly shameless shilling for criminal Trump. America is under attack by everyone in this administration as Fox Faux "news" runs a disinformation campaign worthy of RT. Where is the public outrage? People in Hong Kong are in the streets fighting for freedom while we sit on our hands and let the Republicans throw truth and freedom out the door for power and money.
51
@B. Lassiter
Bill Barr is just following in the footsteps of his dishonest & disgraced father, arch conservative Donald Barr:
https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2019/12/the-education-of-billy-barr
I assume the report means no bias except the one shown by the New York department of the FBI that slipped information about the Clinton employee's laptop to Rudy "Ralph Kramden" Giuliani and helped elect Trump. Thanks for that, btw -- how'd that work out for all of us?
14
@Mgte
Indeed, Rudy bragged about his NY FBI office leaks.
Where is the prosecutorial interest in that?
7
It's ironic that the same administration so eager to pardon war criminals tries to magnify the slightest procedural error or careless remark by career intelligence and justice personnel or diplomats into treason.
So sick of Trump's self-pitying sense of lèse-majesté.
38
Enough. We all know that Trump and the Republican party have betrayed our republic for political and personal gain. They are corrupt and liars. Every smokescreen they throw up backfires in their faces because the facts are not on their side. The only accomplishment they can claim is to have been proven unfit to rule and being criminals. Either we are a country of laws or we are not. If the laws do not apply to a political party or government officials then they do not apply to us the citizens. Beware of what you wish for republicans, your actions or inactions will have consequences and we will not forget.
14
Before you start popping the cork on the champagne bottle, Durham has just announced that he disagrees with the conclusions of the IG report.
8
Well, isn’t that impartial of him.
1
@Edward: Gee, nobody saw that coming.
Anyone who now and then checks Fox News you will find that all their obsessions and conspiracy theories have all been taken up by the White House. Investigating the investigators, condemning anyone who has implicated Trump. It’s like Ingraham, Tucker and Hannity are running the country.
5
This report will not satisfy Attorney General William Barr, who wants to continue investigating until the results support
biased political views that are favorable to his boss and hero, Donald Trump. In other words, a fishing expedition.
19
@Whole Grains
He will at least keep doubt in the air – it's the best he can do. Trump must have thrown some tantrum.
4
Because he is an accomplice of the president rather than an officer of the court and servant of the people, AG Barr's response is predictable. The upcoming presidential election cannot be just about Trump, we have to recognize the need to remove corrupt and morally bankrupt people from the entire administration. Unfortunately, with Putin's assistance, with Trump's penchant for lying and cheating, and with the leadership of the administration stacked against a fair election, we may be stuck with these outlaws for at least another term.
14
AG Barr has been brazenly providing cover for trump by deliberately shirking the responsibilities of his office. He pulled the same stunt with whistle-blower reports as he did with the Mueller report with his contrived "nothing there" charades. Now it turns out there is indeed a lot there! And AG Barr has lots to answer for including:
> why he still has not released to Congress the 'real' Mueller report (ie clean of redactions) now long overdue.
> why he's surreptitiously closing down pending court cases left by the Mueller investigation without explanation or even any formal indication/comment that he is doing this.
8
The Birth of Trumpism and Donald Trump’s election as President...How?? Blame also goes to decade after decade of Politics over Nation in Congress and the Executive Branch. The utter failure of our Federal Government to provide for comprehensive and fair Healthcare, Education, Consumer/Financial, Labor/Wage, Tax, Climate, Immigration, and Regulatory policy/reform brought scores of millions of citizens to a Dartboard voting solution to break the congressional logjam generations of Americans have endured. Trump was the non-professional choice many “bet the house” on. The “stakes” on the “table” may now include the future of our Democracy!
Wasn't Mr. Steele first hired by a Republican donor?
13
Why make the internal problems of the FBI public at this time?
The inquiry should be front and center. There is no deep state persecuting Trump. That is the news here.
8
Waco, Failure to follow pre-911 leads, The Clinton Emails, The incompetence in the court filings leading to the Russia Investigation. It seems like every time the FBI's actions in something that affects our national consciousness are fully investigated they come off looking incompetent. It seems like the one thing we should all agree on is that the FBI is far from the efficient organization that we need it to be.
7
Mr Clinesmith’s doctoring of the email alone constitutes a nefarious effort by a member of the FBI to try to take down Trump. And all of the “serious errors,” mistakes and blunders committed by others in the Justice Department food chain were undoubtedly made in the first place as direct result of the intense bias and animus toward Trump by those individuals committing those “serious errors.” I’m not buying the obvious spin being put forth by Democrats and the mainstream media. What happened here should frighten all Americans.
13
@David R
"What happened here should frighten all Americans".
Clinesmith's actions do not compare to the malfeasance of Mr. Trump. A false equivalency. You, like the rest of the GOP are just not interested in holding Trump responsible for his crimes.
5
It is telling that AG Barr's comment wasn't that "mistakes were made and we will address them," but rather a stout defense of the President. Barr said:
“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr said in a statement.
Yet on the other hand: "[...] the bureau’s top counterintelligence official, Bill Priestap, made the decisions to open the investigation and scrutinize four Trump campaign figures with links to Russia, and Mr. Horowitz found that he had a sufficient and lawful basis to do so.
“Priestap’s exercise of discretion in opening the investigation was in compliance with department and F.B.I. policies, and we did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced his decision,” the report said.
If there's any partisan concerns in this case it's Barr's handling of it.
16
The GOP is now insisting that Hunter Biden be brought forward to testify in the impeachment public hearings supposedly because it relates to the Ukrainian ‘quid pro quo'' matter. Don jr. should also be brought forward to testify in the same public hearings for the same reason given recent revelations of his involvement with Giuliani's shenanigans there. Besides that, trump's attacks on Biden and son fly in the face of his repeated assertions that his own son (Don jr.) is totally exonerated by the Mueller report. How does he know this? AG Barr is still sitting on the real (ie unredacted) Mueller report. It was supposed to have been released to the Congressional Judicial Committee several months ago. All critical parts of the report related to Don jr. have been redacted (ie covered up). Go figure.
7
@John Townsend
In 2016, Harvard Business Review found that Republicans outnumbered Democrats 2-1 on Corporate Boards. The trend continues to this day.
Corporate boards of directors serve an important function in monitoring management and reducing agency costs. However, some directors have backgrounds that seem to offer little to this end.
Former politicians, in particular, fall into this category.
The logical explanation for the appearance of such directors is to assist Corporate boards of directors serve an important function in monitoring management and reducing agency costs.
However, some directors have backgrounds that seem to offer little to this end. Former politicians, in particular, fall into this category. The logical explanation for the appearance of such directors is to assist rent-seeking activities rather than to participate in managerial oversight.
Examples of Rent-seeking activities include:
Lobbies
Government subsidies
Grants
Tariffs
Taxi licensing, etc.
An assertion not backed by factual information is what we ordinary citizens call a lie. And, if memory serves, if one lied to the FBI one would go to jail.
Swamp indeed.
5
Is it any surprise that the report doesn't back up trump's lie & unreality. Barr is certainly upset that it didn't prove him right after his on record comment that trump was spied on. Paranoia rules on.
2
Trump and Republicans are always playing victims despite the odds being stacked in their favor. They get away with violating the law’s constantly. Justice is not blind, it is also deaf and partial to those that are favored!
5
Typical Trump and now Barr tactics - Gaslight the American people whenever we can -- this way, they get to keep power. The lack of any moral center is not surprising in Trump and it's getting less and less surprising in Mr. Barr who I believe should be removed from office right along with Trump.
12
We've reached a point in our country where we can trust nothing. It's every man and woman for themselves. Read the tea leaves and come to your own conclusion.
Better still, read all the garbage thrown your way in the media and all the various ways it will be spun and then vote your conscience.
This is a defining moment in our country. Choose what you will stand for and what you want your country to become.
It's incumbent on all of us to not turn away from this indescribably boring muck and vote for the truth, wherever you may find it. I turn to the New York Times for a dose of reality. Kudos and thank you for staying true to our values.
6
I feel certain the update to this article will feature quotes such as, “We did not identify a specific Department policy prohibiting Ohr from meeting with Steele, Simpson, or the State Department and providing the information he learned from those meetings to the FBI. However, Ohr was clearly cognizant of his responsibility to inform his supervisors of these interactions, and acknowledged to the OIG that the possibility that he would have been told by his supervisors to stop having such contact may have factored into his decision not to tell them about it.”
2
It is important that no one picks and chooses from this report to back up what they believe, but of course that is exactly what will happen. Having worked for decades in a complicated government position a report will always show things that are not completely by the book in every operation and these facts should not be denied. But it is also true that unproven conspiracy theories be debunked as to believe them threatens the viability of the agencies much of which is important to the nation. I would like to thank Mr. Horowitz for his tireless, exhausting service which of course will not be honored by anyone.
9
"Bias" is term now commonly misused to imply corruption, which is different. Everyone harbors bias. Personal preference, one way or the other, is arguably inescapable. But not everyone allows themselves to be corrupted by it.
An investigator may harbor an unfavorable opinion of the person he investigates, which may influence an investigation. But corruption requires an act commision, such as falsifying evidence.
There were plenty of red flags around Trump's campaign that would prompt an investigation. Michael Flynn was known to have potentially compromised himself by lying in his testimony to Congress regarding his contacts with Russian officials. Carter Page was already on counterintelligence radar for his involvement for a recruitment effort by Russian intelligence. In short, there were many individuals associated with the campaign whose activities might make them vulnerable to compromise.
Bottom line, it would not only be malpractice for US intel NOT to investigate these thing, but ironically, NOT investigating itself would imply a coverup and corruption.
7
It's not that Democrats are always right and/or innocent of any wrongdoing; the problem is Republicans always (always!) twist and/or ignore facts. To a Republican, truth is always subjective. Our nation cannot remain whole under these circumstances.
12
Mr. Barr should be impeached next. His conclusion from reading the report is that the FBI launched the investigation on the "thinnest of evidence." That's not what the report says. As the nation's chief law-enforcement officer, he should be supporting the conclusions of his hand-picked investigator, not spinning them to protect the president. And this is the second time he's played spin-doctor, lest we forget.
18
Found "substantial dysfunction, carelessness and serious errors in one part of the sprawling inquiry: the F.B.I.’s applications for court orders approving a wiretap targeting Carter Page..."
Give that dysfunction, carelessness, and serious errors as well complete disregard for rules and processes are just the daily normal operations of the Trump administration I don't see how it could have problem with these findings. In fact I would expect them to cheer them - well except it was an investigation into Trump in which case you are talking about a capital offense from their point of view.
2
One day trump will stop asking for investigations that eventually don’t give the results he so wants. Barr should stop taking tax payer money for a job that should be without bias. But by his own words and actions he continues to support trump over his own hard working people. Barr should resign and join trumps legal team, which would make better sense. Today I still haven’t heard any evidence from the GOP members in the Impeachment hearings that exonerate trump. I hear them only complain about the process, guess that’s what one does when they have nada. I support the Impeachment of trump irregardless knowing that the Senate won’t convict. I will vote in 2020 to remove him, and he trump and the GOP members will understand that it was the majority of American voters who convicted him.
4
Don't you all think it is scary and creepy the way the Repubs deny Trump has done anything wrong? It's like a bad episode of that old show the Twilight Zone. He is going to get off from the impeachment. And then if he loses the election next year, he will not go quietly away. I still imagine him starting a second civil war.
4
Bart has proven to be absolutely partisan to an extreme if being a zealot devoted to a cause to enshrine power into the hands of his chosen few. His opinion is known to all of us no matter the details and skews all data for his agenda.
Likewise the republicans are also biased in extreme. The only one with integrity was Justin Amash.
Barr’s main responsibility at AG is to be a public relations spin machine for the administration.
The ability to perform legitimate legal analysis or lawyering is apparently not required.
4
These various right wing conspiracy theories all started with a few grains of fact and grew into entire complex narratives that miraculously explained away many of this presidents wrong doings.
Now, with the "investigations into the investigations" turning up no proof for any of these theories, the president's supporters will be desperate to concoct a new one that can be used to protect the president and further obfuscate the impeachment proceedings.
According to this article, Mr. Horowitz apparently found that "one low-ranking F.B.I. lawyer altered a related document".
My prediction: This will be a seed that will be used to spawn the next tin foil hat conspiracy theory.
No doubt the Trumpian media machine is busy working to spin a new narrative by using this item, adding a cup of new fake news and a pinch of recycled theories, to cook up an explanation as to how these reports are in error, a new story that they can feed to masses of supporters who will swallow it without question.
Will any Trump supporters or independents have a problem with the fact that the existing theories that Trump and his backers have been using have now been definitively debunked?
Will they now question the credibility of the next round of wild speculations and tin foil hat nonsense?
We can only pray they will.
2
"Report on F.B.I. Russia Inquiry Finds Serious Errors But Debunks Anti-Trump Plot"
They had to come up with something that they can call "serious errors"; else, Mr. Barr would be experiencing the same treatment that his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, did.
Mr. Trump and his supporters need that something badly. It allows them to go out and muddy the waters, possibly claiming that the difference between an error and a plot is in the eyes of beholder.
1
Benghazi all over again. The GOP engages an investigation only to find no issue, but of course they will be unsatisfied; Barr already rejected the outcome since it didn’t prove the GOP narrative or his ‘client’s’. I guess we’re on to the spending of millions more for endless investigations only to come to the same conclusions - nothing criminal, only some clerical errors. This is tiring.
4
Does anyone seriously believe that this report, or anything else with respect to the Trump administration matters at all? Our president operates only on the basis of lies, distortion, misrepresentations and outright denials of known facts as well as his own previous statements. A report could state that the sun is expected to rise tomorrow and if Trump had made a prior contrary statement it would be labeled fake news.
4
Let's just re-iterate the one big thing from this: The FBI investigation into a Trump/Russia conspiracy was fully warranted. Let that sink in. That's the one and only defense Trump had, the one and only excuse he made for obstructing Justice into the Mueller investigation. That's just been blown up by his own DOJ. Trump now needs to be compelled to testify under oath and we need to re-open the investigation. The "Russia Thing" is far from over.
9
The Steele dossier amounted to NOTHING. That's the biggest take away. Trumps beloved wikileaks activity was the basis for starting investigation. We will know more as truth about Roger Stone's actions become public knowledge. All the GOP venom about the Steele dossier (which the RNC originally funded) is a sham and should not be tolerated by Americans who value truth.
3
Barr:
“The inspector general’s report now makes clear that the F.B.I. launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Mr. Barr said in a statement.
Please let us not fall for Barr's get out in front and make a statement about a report that is blatantly untrure. Barr lied in the exact same way about the Mueller rerport. Now, in no way does this report allude to anything about "thinnest of suspicions" or "insufficient to justify". In fact, it says the opposite. And in saying it was insufficient to justify and investigation of an enemy interfering with our elections, Barr is once again playing into the hands of Russia. This is another indication that he is ultimately on the side of those who interfered, hyperpartisan, and not doing his job of upholding our constitution.
5
"Anti-Trump plot" - that was a Fox News created headline from day 1 - give me a break. Trump began to discredit all career government employees within the first week of his administration, specifically because he KNEW his shady dealings would ultimately be uncovered, it was only a matter of time. Better to attack them first and plant the seeds of doubt about them, and that was exactly what he did. He has done more damage to our FBI and National Security than can ever be rectified -- but cleaning up his huge mess will certainly be the first thing on the agenda beginning on January 21, 2021.
4
The convictions and indictments in the Muller investigation are completely unaffected by IG report. Let's ask Bill Barr if he wants Trump to pardon Manfort, Flynn or Stone. Or if he wants to dismiss the open indictments against Russian citizens, businesses and military personnel. (He could do that with the stroke of a pen.) If he doesn't, that tells you all you need to know about whether there was a witch hunt. There were never any witches in Salem, but Moscow had a first-class coven.
1
Thinking about how Fox News will interpret this. I wish the other news media would do serious stories about the bias at Fox. I haven't seen any news pieces in the mainstream media. Time for some serious reporting on the opinion programs at Fox.
I'm feeling very pessimistic about the future of America. Fox and Zuckerberg are destroying our democracy, and there's is no turning back.
181
@Mary
Murdoch, owner of the WSJ, the NYP and FOX (and trump supporter), was deemed in a high level British government enquiry into his business affairs not fit on ethical and moral grounds to run a communications operation. With his reputation sullied there, he decided to focus on media operations in the US. Ironically his US citizenship application was expedited clandestinely by none other than Newt Gingrich who gets plenty of air time on FOX news to push his extremist and biased GOP agenda. And now AG Barr on behalf of trump is using this same media platform to push his obstruction agenda.
20
@Mary . . . . . & almost NO resistance. Democrats are supposed to be the opposition party & a good majority of them are too timid to speak up for the actual people. The ones who do are having to battle not only the nefarious & odious GOP, a nest of swindlers, which never acts with good intent, but also with their own (Democratic) party members, who want nothing more than to have all the unseemliness go away, so we can just get back to that good ol' comfortable status quo. Pessimism is definitely warranted, & not just for this country.
9
@Mary I teach my high school students who are writing argumentative essays that their tone/attitude can never carry the weight of their argument. At Fox, that is all they do. They speak very fast so you do not have enough time to think about what they are saying, weasel words and inflammatory words are sprinkled throughout (most often contradictory to the facts), opinion parades as fact, anger and fear underline everything, and if a fact is about to be revealed that they do not want revealed...the segment is over because they do not have enough time, or they admonish the guest to not say the fact (as if the FACT is an opinion).
What is sad is now my students begin pushing back on my directive to "not let tone carry the weight of your argument." That's the only kind of argument they have seen for years. A student last year said that if we were making an argument in "real life", it would only be tone. It's just in school where we have to stick to facts and logic.
21
This report illustrates a simple truth:
The paradigm in all matters investigatory is similar to our vulnerability to terrorism-- we have to be correct 100% of the
time whereas the investigated need only be right once.
13
@A. Reader
Put simply—well put.
2
This presents yet another opportunity for the GOP sycophants to make a misleading claim to support their president. They will claim the FBI abused their its powers so both the organization and the findings can't be trusted. Perhaps they will go so far as to introduce legislation forbidding the FBI from investigating presidential candidates. With that, their mission will be complete. No investigating either before or after elections.
Of course, such laws would not apply to Democrats.
63
Unfortunately, this report will change nothing in the minds of the right wing conspiracists--which now seems to include most of the Republican Party. DOJ IG's proof of no Deep State conspiracy will be proof to the right that, a-ha, just as they predicted, there IS a Deep State conspiracy. That is how it works in all dictatorships.
51
@Rob
That he didn’t find it isn’t proof that it didn’t happen.
Durham is still investigating and seems to be looking at indictments.
1
@KBronson
With tariffs and all, it must be so expensive to have to wear an aluminum foil hat that large. I am so sorry.
2
Morality and Empathy will fight back in 2020.
32
@Chochodey As well as patriotism and law and order, which no longer exists in the Republican Party.
3
Given Inspector General Horowitz's debunking of Trump's conspiracy theories, how long before Trump and Republicans call for an investigation of Horowitz's investigation of the CrossFire Hurricane Russia investigation?
70
Messrs. Savage and Goldman, whose reporting I view generally with regard, needed editorial oversight which appears to have gone missing here. The facts of the Inspector General's report, yes, and thank you. The opinions about what these may mean "if Mr. Barr presses forward with" views previously stated? Why? These are gratuitous to the IG's report and evidence a news outlet that is desperate to keep the conflict between Trump and his Attorney General going with those critical of Trump and we can rest assured that there will be plenty of that to cover when it does. With the NYT as a major national newspaper of record, it really needs to be laser focused on separating fact from opinion.
14
Will Mr. Barr release the report in full?
Will Mr. Barr release the Mueller report in full?
How in the world can a citizen of this country come to an informed conclusion about all of this without being able to read both reports in their entirety ?
I guess we could just read Mr. Barrs opinion ( I stress opinion) and take it as truth. Oh, I know I'll listen to some pundit tell me what to think, as Mr. Barr has done. Until the Mueller investigation is released in it's entirety I'm left comparing apples to oranges.
27
@Everyman
Did Holder or Brennan release Feinstein's report on torture? Did anybody in the Obama administration, for the 8 years they were there, release an honest assessment of the war in Afghanistan? No. They lied to reporters and the public, as WaPo shows.
So spare us all the fainting couch gags. No administration ever releases any report in full, ever.
2
@Everyman The opinion of a prosecutor is different than an investigation of facts that determine if policies were followed with criminal intent. That is why Flynn passed an interrogation by the FBI as truthful, and Mueller’s team found perjury. Wait for Durham’s report and referrals to find out if crimes were committed. So far, a prosecutor nor a grand jury has reviewed the actions Horowitz has. This is just the beginning. Durham’s report, and possible referrals for prosecution is when criminality will be scrutinized.
1
@Viv You are wrong. Twenty years ago, when then-Independent Counsel Ken Starr investigated President Bill Clinton, his report was released to the public — in fact, it was downloaded so much that it crashed government servers and nearly doubled web traffic in one day, according to Wired, and the book version was a bestseller.
https://time.com/5558083/mueller-report-release-starr/
3
For those Trump supporters who bemoan the spying on of American citizens, they need to read the Patriot Act and then ask their elected officials why they voted in favor of it (along with its extension time and again).
31
@TMWSITY The FBI didn't spy on anybody. They got a legal wire tap, approved by the courts. If someone altered a document, that's a problem, but I suspect no one else knew about it.
2
@Dan
That alteration prevented the DOJ and the FISA court from finding out that Mr. Page had been cooperating with the CIA for years. If I were a FISA judge, I'd want to know about that and such knowledge might cause me to refuse to issue the warrant.
In short, the investigation into Trump’s conspiracy to hack the 2016 election was justified. Another Trump false talking point does.
32
Another GOP fueled and organized by Barr. Of course the IG found no political bias--(he was not looking at the motivation for the investigation. But he had to find something--otherwise it would be such a blatant waste of taxpayer money.
And how is the fake investigation into the fake Ukraine conspiracy going? How many air miles and how much money has been poured into that instead of protecting election security?
17
This is how Trump's rhetoric has twisted our country in knots--we hesitate to condemn truly awful behavior by the FBI because to do so plays into the hands of an extremely corrupt president.
14
@-brian 1 person on the FBI altered one document, and that piece of the investigation was minuscule compared to all the other areas. Try keeping things in perspective.
1
@Dan
As the article points out, that alteration prevented information that Mr. Page had been cooperating with the CIA for years from being included in the FISA applications. It is unlikely that someone who has been so cooperating would be a Russian spy, thus derailing the FISA warrant.
The individual who did it has been referred to US Attorney Durham, who is conducting an investigation not limited to the FBI and DOJ, but includes any and all possible witnesses both here and abroad. In a companion article to this one, Mr. Durham asserts that he does not agree with Mr. Horowitz's conclusions on the innocent start to the investigation of Trump and his campaign, perhaps because Mr. Durham has obtained information from those that Mr. Horowitz did not, such as John Brennan and other CIA officials.
1
Just like we are the frog in the slowly warming beaker of water environmentally, we are in an Orwellian age in every respect socially. When sanity seems optional, quote keeps me sane.
“However much you deny the truth, the truth will go on existing.”
George Orwell
43
Republicans hate when truth comes out and shines a bright light on their absurd opinions. This is no different. It flies directly in the face of everything Mr. Trump had alleged.
34
"Trump's persistent attacks have nonetheless already damaged the bureau's reputation."
With who? Incurious Trump supporters immune from cognitive dissonance and anxious to install their Dear Leader dictator for life?
If anything, this entire episode raises my opinion of the bureau.
28
We all know how this is going to be spun:
The Report:
"This Report concludes that there was no actions taken by members of the FBI in which political bias played a role."
The Republicans and their Rightwing Media Cabal:
"The Report discusses potential political bias in actions taken by the FBI."
The White House (via Kellyanne Conway):
"We reject most of the facts discussed in the Report, and instead we base our conclusion on alternative facts."
24
Trump in the past has extolled the lower ranks of the FBI while lambasting its leaders.
This report stands that on its head and just questions their regular wiretapping procedure.
Just another bit of evidence about the words that come out of Trump’s mouth.
3
So mistakes were made during the wiretap application of Carter Page, an obvious mistake that should be addressed. See how easy that is Republicans?
10
How is the 25th not being invoked at this point? The pure, unmitigated nonsense and lies that come out of this Prez's mouth, including his outright admissions of guilt about his conduct, and how he speaks about his opponents and others, is not just dangerous, but unstable and incomprehensible. The normalizing of the guy is outrageous and I believe and hope that history, hoping this will pass, will set things right so this never happens again in this country.
38
@Zoey
I totally agree. We should have had a national discussion about the 25th.
Republicans though are blinded by flying the rebel flag and throwing out immigrants.
2
@Zoey With or without Putin's help in the previous or next election my vote is sealed tight with Trump. As you describe in your paragraph about normalization I think most Americans are scared by the fact that Democrats screamed for impeachment 20 minutes after A president was elected this country. Now that's some 25th for you!
1
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias". - Stephen Colbert
19
@Kevin McKague
Well, Stephen Colbert has an extremely well-known liberal bias.
2
@HMI That stands to reason. Liberals tend to spend their time and focus worrying about things that are *actually real*, as opposed to listening to those who get paid good money to make us afraid of conspiracy theories. That is why when career non-partisan officials investigate the truth they end up agreeing with what liberals had been saying all along.
2
@Kevin McKague
Thanks for demonstrating the effects of the bias.
1
Does that mean they will have to apologize and rehire all of the imaginary conspirators?
4
Trump has indeed found his Roy Cohn in William Barr. That the Dept of Justice is part of the Trump apparatus makes America that much closer to becoming the next Turkey or Hungry. Barr "exonerated" Trump for obstruction of justice after Mueller, and now, he is making sure that this latest report from the Inspector General is used in such a way as to protect the Russian mobster who currently sits in the Oval Office. The pattern is clear.
No problem gets solved without ridding ourselves of Trump on Election Day (here, I am assuming that Republican senators continue to be complicit), and then getting out on the streets if he refuses to leave.
21
@Dan I spelled Hungary wrong. Trump is contagious.
President Trump not to be upstaged or embarrassed by the news that there wasn't a plot within the FBI to ruin his perfectly perfect life and election has wisely turned the nation's attention to the critical issue facing all of us regarding toilet flushing difficulties. This is the kind of no nonsense, gritty leadership that God's chosen one will use to lead us into the future. Bravo!
10
The truth isn't the truth! Somebody should put that on a red baseball cap.
16
that is awesome.
3
It was reported in November there was a very animated discussion in the oval office between Barr and Trump. Trump must've been so disappointed with the results of this investigation. In Trump's world, however, this won't stop him from distorting. In fact, Barr's summary of the report has just been released and it's being reported that he disagrees with the report. This is what he did with the Mueller report.
39
Between Trump, the GOP, the Attorney General and the Supreme Court, it’s refreshing to see one part of the system working the way it should.
12
@Bronx Jon The IG will be fired after the report is issued.
1
Let’s not downplay this in anticipation of Trump’s lies and denials and the intransigence of his base. This is coming from Trump’s own Justice Department. The investigations into the Trump campaign were properly predicated and without political bias. The truth matters.
18
What is done cannot not be undone.
And Trump will neither apologize, nor change his stance. He is among the worst of worst. History will judge him accordingly.
37
@Andrea
And history will judge also all the enablers and the entourage who keep this giant gas bag inflated to the detriment of whatever integrity they had before diving in.
And while I don't even like paraphrasing this guy let alone quoting him, I can't wait to say: 'I only like Presidents who did't get impeached."
7
Hopefully Mr. Horowitz will disclose in the body of the report exactly why it was that he undertook the investigation and prepared the report, and what pressures were brought to bear on him during the course of his work. If the report could have been influenced by the ravings or quiescence of a paranoid or lickspittle Attorney General, that too is something that should be known about the operation and capability of the present-day Department of Justice.
Maybe in a supplemental report, if not in the report today.
12
Former bureau leaders "essentially exonerated" of President Trump’s accusations that they engaged in a politicized conspiracy to sabotage him. Really? If the great, esteemed, highly honored "Bob" Mueller taught us anything was it not a higher bar for a declaration of exoneration?
2
Thankfully AG William Barr didn’t have first dibs on the report in order to misrepresent the findings, as he so famously did with the Mueller Report.
36
I thought the Christopher Steele work was actually paid by Ted Cruz's campaign and the Clinton campaign purchased it from Cruz.
I know it originated through a republican campaign and just the report was purchased by the dems.
Is this not correct?
22
@Jeff
No. There were several "Steele" dossiers prior to them being sold to Clinton. They did not contain any info on Russia. Steele himself only came into the picture when Fusion GPS hired him at the behest of the Clinton campaign.
Even if you don't think any of that is true, why would Cruz give up such a valuable smear job to Clinton instead of keeping it for himself so he could secure the nomination? Cruz is not dumb.
1
@Jeff
They hired Fusion GPS to do opposition research. Fusion GPS hired Steele.
4
@viv @mathias
Thank you!
Viv - As to your question, I've given up trying to make sense of anything related to politicians except for one thing; they just want to get reelected.
It doesn't matter what is in the report. Trump and his henchmen will spin the opposite.
Nadler and Schiff need to include the IG report in theirs and they both need to have him come in and testify.
This is the presidency of propaganda and disinformation, Soviet-style. Democrats need to apply time-tried and true techniques of combating the scourge that is today's GOP.
16
“If Mr. Barr presses forward with that view publicly, the debate over the legitimacy of the F.B.I.’s actions — which grew into the special counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III — may continue”. If Barr presses forward with such claims, he will completely remove any legitimacy that he is the US Attorney General.
15
Your title and opening sentences should say what this report is and why it was written. This report came from a Trump tweet based on a conspiracy theory. This kind of coverage and efforts to be (painfully) nonpartisan by the media--in this case, by the Times, will yield the kinds of results that got us where we did in 2016 unless it stops.
4
I'm absolutely certain that Mr. Comey and Mr. McCabe padded their expense accounts somewhere along the way.
2
@A. Stanton
I take your comment as snark for the following reason.
Having worked for the federal government, and having gone on TDA (government travel), the required filings for reimbursement for expense usually require support in the form of receipts, credit card records, and the like.
Padding is not easy to do, and if you get caught, you get fired.
What fool risks one's career (and freedom) for a few bucks on a one-time reimbursement?
3
@Joe From Boston
Probably the same kind of fools who think it's a good idea to have affairs with their coworkers, and talk personal things on government-owned phones?
Stop pretending that if Vindman (or anyone else) hadn't heard Trump talk or email about "insurance policies" you wouldn't be screaming from rooftops about how the jig is up.
1
@Viv
Your comment "Probably the same kind of fools who think it's a good idea to have affairs with their coworkers," is hilarious, coming from a supporter of Donald Trump, a self-admitted serial philanderer, and a supporter of Rudy Giuliani, another self-admitted serial philanderer, who between them have had six marriages and five divorces, and counting.
If you do not yet do stand up comedy, you should consider it.
By the way, it was Rudy Giuliani who talked about "insurance policies."
1
And How much taxpayer money did this farce cost?
5
@Jerry Spiegel
Two and a half trips to Mar-a-Lago, plus a year's rent the Secret Service pays for an apartment in Manhattan in case he summons the courage to show up on Fifth Avenue again.
2
Now that the FBI has been cleared of political motivation and wrongdoing, I guess we will have to wait for the President to counter with a FSB Inspector General report, as soon as Russia sends it.
14
Republicans are definitely not working on behalf of the US.
Hey are working for Trump in his quest against all that America stands for.
They try to portray the “rule of law” as “
Being mere “political correctness”.
10
This is nothing but a raiload job run by a bunch of left wing democrat conspirators. I have never seen anything so unfair. If you have to run it in a closed door proceeding (Like they do in China) that reeks of partisanship. This whole proceeding and the way it is being run disgusts me. Jerry Nadler, Schiff and his cohorts need to answer for this.
6
@baba ganoush
No they don’t. Get over it. Republicans constantly hide behind closed doors until democrats are in power. You want respect try earning it. All republicans do in open door meetings is lie and grandstand on Fox News talking points.
4
News report of a typical banana republic. Did he promise to make us great again? I'm not an expert on great countries but I would argue this is not it.
10
Please let Barr know so he can stop wasting taxpayers’ money investigating the same thing.
585
@Plumeria Ah, but they have a track record of wasting taxpayer money and their own time investigating the same thing. Remember Benghazi? This AG, a loyal servant to the Great Orange, will not deviate from his job of making sure he protects his Great Leader, no matter the cost in taxpayer dollars, his staff's work hours, and even to his own reputation,
62
Please let Barr know he can also skip a meal from time to time.... or month to month!
17
Barr just disputed the report and says the opposite. The truth isn't the truth!
18
Another pile of facts to be cherry-picked, misquoted, and bent unrecognizably out of shape. -C
120
@Charlie
By both sides.
1
And yet,
William Barr will condemn all within the FBI
for witnessing acts of treason by members of Donald Trump's inner circle,
and responding appropriately.
William Barr sees spying against the 'Anointed One' everywhere!
305
@Steven of the Rockies hopefully the security agencies will unleash some info on Trumpster which will have no excuses possible..sometimes the good guys have to win!
11
Until AG Barr decides to "reinterpret" it and come to another conclusion.
143
@poslug he already did...
6
Now we can get back to the important work of the people - investigating Ted Cruz’ father for the assassination of JFK!
225
@Pop --and yet Ted Cruz & many other GOP politicians who correctly criticized Trump prior to 2016 are now defending him with deflections & lies. They're hypocrits with no souls.
7
@Pop I didn't know that Trump was investigating Ted Cruz's father. The Republicans are totally out of control.
@Jeff
Trump was "investigating" Ted Cruz's father in the same way Trump had people "investigating" Barack Obama's "real" birth certificate.
To Donald Trump "investigate" means "slander".
3
As they did with the Mueller report, the Trump administration will present a dishonest assessment of the IG report, knowing their base will believe it, Fox News will report it, and no one will actually read the report. By this time tomorrow we will see tweets from Trump crowing that the report proves he was right.
1004
@Patriot so disturbing that we have to think that way. I wish this nightmare were over.
80
@Patriot
Not to mention Barr’s coming torching of the report.
96
@Patriot
How about the Dems' dishonest assessment of the Mueller report? Adam Schiff screaming for 2 years he has evidence of collusion? Seems he didn't but he still carries on- give him credit for trying?
13
It is terrifying to watch people who have sworn to preserve, protect, and defend the country and the Constitution of the United States, brazenly working to undermine the country to advance the cause of Russia.
It is at least good to see that it is not as easy for them to get away with this crime as they had apparently anticipated.
The entire Republican Congress has sold out the country.
Again, it’s terrifying to watch.
912
@Grove
What's even more terrifying than that, though, is the number of our fellow citizens who wholeheartedly support their brazen undermining of democratic norms and sycophantic support of Russian interests.
78
@Grove It isn't just the politicians who have sold out the country. Every single republican who supports the trump/GOP travesty is equally to blame.
26
@Dr J
Yes.
43% of Republicans would be fine with a dictatorship.
And it appears that 100% of the Republican Congress agrees.
Antithesis of America.
37
In other words, the Republicans were about 95% wrong, and the Dems were about 95% correct.
But Trump and his deplorable Republican sycophants will ignore the facts that they don't like. AG Barr has already confirmed that.
The Right will continue to lie without ethics or impunity.
779
@Paul-A That's without ethics and WITH impunity.
48
I anticipate that the supporters of Trump and his ilk will have an excuse for the carefully drawn conclusions reached in this report. They'll likely accuse the IG of partisanship.
This administration is without shame.
117
The republican right wing is trying to disorient the American public. Be afraid of the right. Poland is a warning.
241
@Spencer V. Dossman
It certainly is appropriate to fear what the right is capable of, as we're seeing them betray their oaths of office and the people they purport to serve on an hourly basis. But I believe that a better approach is to work against, vote against and expose the right for the servile, ovine traitors that they are.
3
@Spencer V. Dossman
As are Hungary and Turkey.
1
The Time is already spinning before the report is even released.
13
If an FBI agent left his shoe untied during a workday in which the Russia case was being investigated, Trump and Barr would sound off about. It's never about the substance with these guys -- there is no substance to their claims. What it's about is yelling and declaiming and accusing -- that's as much as Trump supporters can absorb: anger is their oxygen, reason and facts are their Kryptonite.
125
@JimBob Yes, you can see the same tactics at work in the House impeachment hearings. The Republicans act like grinning, drunken frat boys throwing stink bombs rather than elected and sworn representatives of the American people, sent to conduct serious business.
19
Anxiously awaiting the Russian rebuttal. I can think of one person in particular who will read it in front of the press about 10,000 times.
47
So the important thing is not who are the criminals and what were they up to, but who tipped off the police?
54
@kauff No, it's about whether or not there was a plot in the first place. That;s what the headline word "Debunks" means.
2
The US taxpayer spends a lot of government money chasing down and debunking crackpot conspiracy theories. Benghazi, Ukraine, Hillary Clinton's Email server. Want to know the cost that social media algorithms and echo chambers to society beyond depression and societal division? These conspiracy investigations should be paid for by the platforms that spread them like wildfire.
100
@Tyler I'm old enough to remember "crackpot conspiracy theories" that proved to be factual.
Thank heaven we had the spunk and the wisdom to check them out.
1
@Tyler What a great idea! We should charge the Republican National Committee for this foolishness 😊
9
@kenneth Which crackpot conspiracy theories of the last 40 years have turned out to be true?
And which ones are you concerned about now?
And how much money would you be willing to spend to "check them out"?
Asking for about 70 million friends. Enough is enough: we all know what fact-based reality we should be dealing with. Repeating the lie that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election will not make it true, and it will not change the fact that Russia meddled in the 2016 election specifically to favor Trump and sow division. Especially since this meddling seems to have worked spectacularly. We need to be ready when they come back for more, and spending money and time on every "crackpot conspiracy theory" that pops up on the radar will only dilute our efforts to protect our elections.
4
The object of all of this is to protect the US ! not to protect suspects. Looking for loopholes does not help the US. The bottom line, did those people break US laws to promote interests in the Russians. Russia is the villain, not the FBI.
387
Thankfully, and if correct, this will knock down another talking point deployed by Team Trump & GOP. The report will show that there was nothing special about his candidacy -- except his team's willingness to accept assistance by Russia and its surrogates to get an inferior candidate (their preferred candidate) elected president.
202
@FP Dunneagin
Trump supporters have already demonstrated that reality is unimportant for the propagation and maintenance of their worldview. Don't get your hopes up.
132
@FP Dunneagin Has truth ever stopped them before?
66
@ERC Actually, most of them (and us?) are less concerned about a "worldview" here than they are about winning here at home.