Diagnosing the FBI Failures in the Inspector General's FISA Report

Julian SanchezJustice Department Inspector General Michael Horowtiz'slong-awaited report on "Crossfire Hurricane" —the FBI's investigation of potential links between Russian election interference and the Trump campaign—has finally been released.Like most news developments in our polarized age, the report is being spun in diametrically opposed ways by political partisans, as evidenced by the questions atWednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the report. Both of these narratives, unfortunately, get it wrong in fundamental ways.For many Democrats and other Trump critics, the main takeaway from the Horowitz Report has been that, despite some "irregularities" or "missteps" by the FBI, the report doesn't support Trump or his allies' claims about a "Deep State Coup" that ginned up a phony investigation to damage the Trump administration. Former FBI Director James Comey eventreated the report as a vindication of the Bureau's conduct during his tenure.For many Republicans, the fact that some of the officials involved in a grossly flawed investigation of former Trump advisor Carter Page also had strongly negative views of Trump is all that's needed to validate the view that the myriad serious failures Horowitz documents show "political abuse" motivated by partisan bias and a desire to "get Trump" at any cost. Both of these reads, I think, fundamentally misunderstand the real problems Horowitz exposed.I've already done a lengthy analysis of the report's central findings ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs