In a pair of social media posts on Sunday, President Trump pointed to reports that FBI Director Christopher Wray acknowledged during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week that the FBI engaged in “illegal surveillance with respect to at least several of these FISA applications [for Trump adviser Carter Page] because there was no probable cause or proper predication.”
“FBI Director Christopher Wray just admitted that the FISA Warrants and [Surveillance] of my campaign were illegal,” Trump wrote in a two-tweet thread Sunday. “So was the Fake Dossier.”
Trump then hit the caps lock for an incensed declaration about the “scam investigation” into “collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia, for which Special Counsel Robert Mueller ultimately found no evidence after his two-year, wide-ranging probe:
THEREFORE, THE WHOLE SCAM INVESTIGATION, THE MUELLER REPORT AND EVERYTHING ELSE FOR THREE YEARS, WAS A FIXED HOAX. WHO PAYS THE PRICE? This is the biggest political crime in American History, by far. SIMPLY PUT, THE PARTY IN POWER ILLEGALLY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE ELECTION, IN ORDER TO CHANGE OR NULLIFY THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION. IT CONTINUED ON WITH THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX. Terrible!
….This is the biggest political crime in American History, by far. SIMPLY PUT, THE PARTY IN POWER ILLEGALLY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER THE ELECTION, IN ORDER TO CHANGE OR NULLIFY THE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION. IT CONTINUED ON WITH THE IMPEACHMENT HOAX. Terrible!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2020
Wray’s acknowledgment of the FBI’s wrongdoing reportedly came during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week. CBS News’ Catherine Herridge reported that Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe, citing the inspector general and DOJ report on the FBI abuse of the FISA court, asked Wray if he would “acknowledge that this was illegal surveillance with respect to at least several of these FISA applications because there was no probable cause or proper predication. Correct?”
“Right,” Wray responded, Herridge reported.
Recently declassified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) ruling in January determined that the FBI should have discontinued its secret surveillance of Page because it had “insufficient predication to establish probable cause.” At least two of the four FISA applications for Page, ruled FISA Judge James Boasberg on January 7, were “not valid.”
“DOJ assesses that with respect to the applications in Docket Numbers 17-375 and 17-679, ‘if not earlier, there was insufficient predication to establish probable cause to believe that [Carter] Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power,’” ruled Boasberg, as reported by The Federalist’s Sean Davis. “The Court understands the government to have concluded, in view of the material misstatements and omissions, that the Court’s authorizations in Docket Numbers 17-375 and 17-679 were not valid.”
In an interview with ABC News in December following the release of the IG report, Wray defended the bureau and denied that there was any evidence that the FBI unfairly targeted Trump’s campaign. “[T]he Inspector General did not find political bias or improper motivations impacting the opening of the investigation or the decision to use certain investigative tools during the investigation, including FISA,” said Wray. “But that the Inspector general did find a number of instances where employees either failed to follow our policies, neglected to exercise appropriate diligence, or in some other way fell short of the standard of conduct and performance that we, and that I, as Director, expect of all our employees.”
Trump responded by declaring that Wray would “never be able to fix the FBI” with that kind of attitude. “I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me,” Trump tweeted. “With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!”
I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2019