More and More Like an Agatha Christie Crime Novel

Twists and Turns.

Something continues to rot in the State of the Union.  The FBI has been criticized by the Justice Department's Inspector General for for "wrong doings" in its investigation of former President Trump's campaign staffer.  

Now this is starting to get down into the weeds, but nonetheless it is surprising that the FBI would not have been thoroughly scrupulous in its processes. 

The over 400-page report by Inspector General Michael Horowitz criticizes the FBI for “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the bureau’s applications to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, stating agents “failed to meet the basic obligation” to make sure their applications were accurate.  [Breitbart News]

The Inspector General has been focusing on the procedures and activities surrounding applications by the FBI to spy upon a US citizen, Carter Page--who was an election campaign adviser to Donald Trump.  It's all a bit abstract and distant now.  But it appears as though the FBI was less than thorough and professional.
 

“We do not speculate whether the correction of any particular misstatement or omissions, or some combination thereof, would have resulted in a different outcome,” the report said. “Nevertheless, the department’s decision-makers and the court should have been given complete and accurate information so that they could meaningfully evaluate probable cause before authorizing the surveillance of a US person associated with a presidential campaign.”

It specified 17 inaccuracies involving three applications filed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which may have inflated the bureau’s justification for surveillance against Page, the report said.  Despite the errors, the report concluded the FBI did not act improperly in its activities.

Even more strange is the distance now being stipulated by Attorney General William Barr.  He confirms 

the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken. 

It is also clear that, from its inception, the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory.  Nevertheless, the investigation and surveillance was pushed forward for the duration of the campaign and deep into President Trump’s administration, Barr added.  [Emphasis, ours.]

Even stranger still: 

U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is leading the DOJ’s review of the origins of the Russia investigation, said he does “not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.” 

The question is begged: what has Durham found out that it requires his distancing from Inspector General Michael Horowitz's position?  Things are now even more intriguing.  We will just have to remain patient.  Clearly, there is more to come.