[rad-green] FBI lawyer suspected of altering Russia probe document related to former Trump adviser

*https://globalnews.ca/news/6206514/fbi-lawyer-russia-probe/
<https://globalnews.ca/news/6206514/fbi-lawyer-russia-probe/>Global News
       November 22, 2019FBI lawyer suspected of altering Russia probe
document related to former Trump adviserBY ERIC TUCKER AND DEB RIECHMANN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS*

An FBI lawyer <https://globalnews.ca/tag/carter-page/> is suspected of
altering a document related to surveillance of a former Trump
<https://globalnews.ca/tag/donald-trump/> campaign adviser, a person
familiar with the situation said Friday.

President Donald Trump, who has long attacked as a “hoax” and a “witch
hunt” the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and his 2016
presidential campaign, immediately touted news reports about the
allegations to assert that the FBI had tried to “overthrow the presidency.”

The allegation is part of a Justice Department inspector general
investigation into the early days of the FBI’s Russia probe, which was
ultimately taken over by special counsel Robert Mueller and resulted in
charges against six Trump associates and more than two dozen Russians
accused of interfering in the election.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz is expected to release his report on
Dec. 9. Witnesses in the last two weeks have been invited in to see draft
sections of that document.

The release of the inspector general report is likely to revive debate
about the investigation that has shadowed Trump’s presidency since the
beginning. It is centred in part on the FBI’s use of a secret surveillance
warrant to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser
Carter Page.

“This was spying on my campaign — something that has never been done in the
history of our country,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday. “They tried
to overthrow the presidency.”

The allegation against the lawyer was first reported by CNN. The Washington
Post subsequently reported that the conduct of the FBI employee didn’t
alter Horowitz’s finding that the surveillance application of Page had a
proper legal and factual basis, an official told the Post, which said the
lawyer was forced out.

A person familiar with the case who was not authorized to discuss the
matter by name and spoke to AP only on the condition of anonymity confirmed
the allegation. Spokespeople for the FBI and the inspector general declined
to comment Friday.

The FBI obtained a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to monitor the
communications of Page, who was never charged in the Russia investigation
or accused of wrongdoing. The warrant, which was renewed several times and
approved by different judges in 2016 and early 2017, has been one of the
most contentious elements of the Russia probe and was the subject of
dueling memos last year issued by Democrats and Republicans on the House
Intelligence Committee.

Republicans have long attacked the credibility of the warrant application
since it cited information derived from a dossier of opposition research
compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy whose work was
financed by Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“They got my warrant — a fraudulent warrant, I believe — to spy on myself
as a way of getting into the Trump campaign,” Page said in an interview
with Maria Bartiromo on Fox’s “Mornings with Maria.” “There has been a
continued cover-up to this day. We still don’t have the truth, but
hopefully, we’ll get that soon.”

FBI Director Chris Wray has told Congress that he did not consider the FBI
surveillance to be “spying” and that he has no evidence the FBI illegally
monitored Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election. Wray said he would not
describe the FBI’s surveillance as “spying” if it’s following
“investigative policies and procedures.”

Attorney General William Barr has said he believed “spying” did occur, but
he also made clear at a Senate hearing earlier this year that he had no
specific evidence that any surveillance was illegal or improper. Barr has
appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate how intelligence was
collected, and that probe has since become criminal in nature, a person
familiar with the matter has said.

But Trump insists that members of the Obama administration “at the highest
levels” were spying on his 2016 campaign. “Personally, I think it goes all
the way. … I think this goes to the highest level,” he said in the Fox
interview. “I hate to say it. I think it’s a disgrace. They thought I was
going to win and they said, ‘How can we stop him?’”
© 2019 The Canadian Press

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