Horowitz report is damning for the FBI and unsettling for the rest of us The Hill, Dec 9, 2019, Jonathan Turley
The analysis of the report by Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz greatly depends, as is often the case, on which cable news channel you watch. Indeed, many people might be excused for concluding that Horowitz spent 476 pages to primarily conclude one thing, which is that the Justice Department acted within its guidelines in starting its investigation into the 2016 campaign of President Trump.
Horowitz did say that the original decision to investigate was within the discretionary standard of the Justice Department. That standard for the predication of an investigation is low, simply requiring “articulable facts.” He said that, since this is a low discretionary standard, he cannot say it was inappropriate to start. United States Attorney John Durham, who is heading the parallel investigation at the Justice Department, took the unusual step to issue a statement that he did not believe the evidence supported that conclusion at the very beginning of the investigation.
Attorney General William Barr also issued a statement disagreeing with the threshold statement. In fact, the Justice Department has a standard that requires the least intrusive means of investigating such entities as presidential campaigns, particularly when it comes to campaigns of the opposing party. That threshold finding is then followed by the remainder of the report, which is highly damaging and unsettling. Horowitz finds a litany of false and even falsified representations used to continue the secret investigation targeting the Trump campaign and its associates.
QuoteThis is akin to reviewing the Titanic and saying that the captain was not unreasonable in starting the voyage. The question is what occurred when the icebergs began appearing. Horowitz says that investigative icebergs appeared rather early on, and the Justice Department not only failed to report that to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court but removed evidence that its investigation was on a collision course with the facts.
Page is an interesting person. On the one hand she is suing over having her affair revealed and on the other hand she apparently honestly answered questions put to her. Looks like she believes "by any means necessary" and that what they were doing was fine.
Quote "I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations," he insisted.
"I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI -- not just in this case, but in any case. FULL STOP. PERIOD. Guaranteed. Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department," he said.
The lying SOB knew about it all along!
We will never again be truly FREE people for so long as we continue to abide the Marxist Income Tax Code and the IRS!
Quote "I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations," he insisted.
"I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department or the FBI -- not just in this case, but in any case. FULL STOP. PERIOD. Guaranteed. Nobody gets treated differently when it comes to the Justice Department," he said.
Rosie memos @almostjingo · 10h In local law enforcement if an investigator tampers with evidence they are fired and every single case they’ve ever worked on is thrown out, in the @FBI they just say “oops” @TheJusticeDept @JusticeOIG