Politics

Sen. Lindsey Graham: FBI Probe Into Russia Collusion ‘Became Criminal Pretty Quick’

Fox News Screenshot

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
Font Size:

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed his outrage Monday on “Hannity” over the release of long-awaited report from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, calling it “criminal.”

Horowitz’s report was released Monday and is a comprehensive assessment of how and why the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) decided to investigate the Donald Trump campaign for supposed collusion with Russia.

The report suggests the investigation began on legal ground but it is highly critical of the FBI’s handling of intelligence from Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy whose accusations against Trump were used by the FBI  to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Application (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page. (RELATED: FISA Report is ‘Lengthy’ And Has ‘Few Redactions’ DOJ Watchdog Tells Congress)

“[T]he FBI obtained additional information raising significant questions about the reliability of the Steele election reporting, the FBI failed to reassess the Steele reporting relied upon in the FISA applications,” the report reads.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman said Horowitz’s report only beings to scratch the surface of the injustice.

What I’m here to tell you and the American people is this: if it started legitimate, it became criminal pretty quick. Here’s what I’m going to say to Horowitz. Do you agree with me that in January 2017 after the sub source told the FBI and department of justice everything in the dossier is a bunch of B.S.? That’s when it became a criminal conspiracy … they told the court they were truthful and credible. At that point in time people in the FBI and the Department of Justice defrauded the FISA court, trampled on the constitutional rights of Carter Page and continued the surveillance of a duly elected president unlawfully …”

Graham continued, “It’s a bunch of hearsay, gossip, and bar talk. It’s not reliable. I hope every American would agree that the proper thing for the FBI to do is to inform the court of exculpatory information. The wrong thing to do is to lie to the court about what the sub source told you…(RELATED: Here’s How The Steele Dossier Spread Throughout The Media And The Government)

The Senator promised to ask Horowitz some tough questions when his committee interviews the IG on Wednesday, adding that he finds it problematic that FBI agents have compromised the work of America’s national police force.

“This is what [former FBI Director] J. Edgar Hoover used to do. They used to make stuff up. They used to lie to people to get what they wanted … They hate Donald Trump’s guts and any other conclusion is pretty ridiculous.”