Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz reportedly has reached a “breakthrough” in the government’s investigation into alleged FISA abuse against the Trump campaign as at least one witness has started to cooperate in the investigation.
Fox News reported that, according to sources, “at least one witness outside the Justice Department and FBI started cooperating” at “the 11th hour” in the investigation.
“While the investigative phase of the inspector general’s long-running probe is said to be complete, the sources said recent developments required some witnesses to be reinterviewed,” Fox News added. “And while Barr testified that he expected the report into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuse to be ready in May or last month, multiple sources said the timeline has slipped.”
Earlier this year, Attorney General William Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate “whether the government’s methods to collect intelligence relating to the Trump campaign were lawful and appropriate,” the AP reported.
In May, Fox News noted that Durham had a reputation of being a “hard-charging…bulldog” as a prosecutor, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The Hill reported in May that a senior State Department official knew that the anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, which was paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign, “was political and facing an Election Day deadline.”
“And that confession occurred 10 days before the FBI used Steele’s now-discredited dossier to justify securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the campaign’s ties to Russia,” The Hill added.
A separate report from The Hill noted that the official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec, “determined some of the Donald Trump dirt that Steele was simultaneously digging up for the FBI and for Hillary Clinton’s campaign was inaccurate, and likely leaked to the media.”