An FBI official is under criminal investigation for allegedly altering a document that was central to the FBI’s surveillance of a Trump campaign official in 2016, according to a new report from CNN.
“The finding is expected to be part of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide,” CNN reported. “Horowitz turned over evidence on the allegedly altered document to John Durham, the federal prosecutor appointed early this year by Attorney General William Barr to conduct a broad investigation of intelligence gathered for the Russia probe by the CIA and other agencies, including the FBI. The altered document is also at least one focus of Durham’s criminal probe.”
Fox News’ Gregg Re reported last month that sources indicated that Horowitz’s upcoming report on alleged FBI surveillance misconduct against the Trump campaign in 2016 “will shed light on why Durham’s probe has become a criminal inquiry.”
Horowitz’s has been investigating whether the FBI misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) in seeking permission to surveil the Trump campaign while U.S. Attorney John Durham has been investigating the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation.
Sources told CNN that the edits to the document were serious enough that the edits allegedly changed the document’s original meaning.
“Horowitz’s investigators conducted more than 100 witness interviews in their review. During one of interviews this year, they confronted the witness about the document. The witness admitted to the change, ” CNN added. “The identity or rank of the FBI employee under investigation isn’t yet known, and it’s not clear whether the employee still works in the federal government. No charges that could reflect the situation have been filed publicly in court.”
THE FIX WAS IN…
FBI official allegedly altered document that was basis for FISA warrant on surveillance of the 2016 Trump campaign. pic.twitter.com/qjjCXyUime
— Steven Cheung (@CaliforniaPanda) November 21, 2019
The New York Times reported last month that the investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation had taken a serious turn as evidence that was reportedly found by Durham shifted the probe from an administrative review into a full-fledged criminal investigation.
Re noted in a separate report that “sources said Durham was ‘very interested’ to question former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, an anti-Trump critic who recently dismissed the idea. The two Obama administration officials were at the helm when the unverified and largely discredited Steele dossier, written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, was used to justify a secret surveillance warrant against former Trump adviser Carter Page.”
Durham’s investigation has expanded as a result of additionally uncovered information as the United States has also reportedly been in contact with Italy, the United Kingdom, and Australia in gathering evidence.
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