Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said Inspector General Michael Horowitz’ report on the FBI Russia investigation showed the bureau “effectively meddled” in the 2016 election.
Josh Hawley says FBI “effectively meddled” in 2016 presidential election
We expect foreign governments to try to meddle, Hawley says, “but when our own government does it, how can the American people have confidence, and what can we do?”
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) December 11, 2019
Hawley’s comments come as Horowitz testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his report on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation. While the report states the FBI was unbiased in starting the investigation, it also found dozens of “significant” mistakes and omissions in the FBI’s process. (RELATED: ‘The Bad News Is Buried’: Lt. Colonel Shaffer Criticizes The Media For Handling Of Horowitz Report)
“[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 read.
The IG also found that FBI investigators failed to disclose information that “was inconsistent with, or undercut, the assertions contained in the FISA applications.” The omissions “resulted in inaccurate information being included in the applications,” according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, two high-level members of the Russia investigation, showed they were overtly biased against President Donald Trump.