Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will ask the Supreme Court to investigate possible FISA court abuses by the Obama administration.
He told reporters Thursday that he planned to ask Chief Justice John Roberts, “Would you please look and see what happened? Because I don’t want to lose the FISA program.”
Lindsey Graham: “I don’t intend to call the FISA judges ‘do you think you were hoodwinked?’ That is uncomfortable for me. But I am going to ask Roberts ‘would you please look and see what happened?’ because I don’t want to lose the FISA program.”
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) May 2, 2019
Graham, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has shown an increased interest in investigating the investigators, so to speak, since Robert Mueller’s investigation of collusion came up empty in March. President Trump and his allies have called for a counter-investigation into the Russia probe, which would include a review of the intelligence community’s surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.
Graham will ask SCOTUS to review FISA
Roberts has the power to appoint judges to the FISA court. According to Trump and his allies, abuse of the court’s power played a prominent role in the illicit surveillance on the Trump campaign in 2016.
That surveillance, Republicans have long alleged, marked the inception of the nearly two-year Russia collusion investigation. Republicans have argued that senior intelligence officials were dishonest in acquiring warrants from the FISA court to spy on former Trump campaign associate Carter Page. In particular, Republicans have argued that top “Deep State” agents did not disclose to the FISA court that their justification for spying was an infamous dossier of political opposition research, the Christopher Steele Dossier, funded by the Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign.
FISA abuses were clearly on Senator Graham’s mind Wednesday when his panel grilled Attorney General William Barr over his handling of Robert Mueller’s report. Graham read aloud anti-Trump text messages exchanged between disgraced former top FBI agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page, and in one notable moment, the famously mild-mannered lawmaker used the f-word, quoting a text sent by Strzok.
The split in priorities between parties was clear right down the middle of Barr’s hearing: while Democrats accused Barr of “covering up” Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice, Republican Senators largely dedicated their time to drawing attention to bias at the FBI, DOJ, and other intelligence agencies.
At one point, Graham asked Barr point blank if he was concerned about FISA abuses. Barr responded simply, “Yes.”
Dems bury spying, perpetuate Russia lies
That split in priorities has largely shaped the responses of the Republicans and Democrats, respectively, since Mueller’s probe concluded. While Republicans have been eager to get to the bottom of the Russia probe, Democrats have hurriedly attempted to keep the Russia collusion narrative alive with a new conspiracy theory: that Barr “covered up” Trump’s crimes.
Those efforts reached disgraceful lows Wednesday as Democrats mounted a bare-knuckled partisan attack on Barr’s character, and accused Barr of covering for Trump’s crimes by providing a misleading account of Mueller’s findings in a brief, four-page letter in March. Barr has since released the full Mueller report with minimal redactions.
At the same time, Democrats have attacked Barr for stating that “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign at a separate hearing before Congress. Democrats took issue with Barr’s use of the term “spying” and accused him of running defense for Trump by promoting a conspiracy theory that the “Deep State” attempted to sabotage his candidacy, and then his presidency.
Democrats have long argued that Republicans’ FISA grievances are part of a conspiracy theory which contends that Trump narrowly escaped a bureaucratic coup to destroy his presidency. The end of Mueller’s probe brought an immediate outcry for accountability from the president and his allies, as Trump declared “total exoneration” and blasted the probe as a failed, “illegal takeover,” while Graham announced that he will look into FISA abuses with renewed urgency.
Barr announced in April that he would review alleged misconduct in the origins of the Russia probe, and at his hearing on Wednesday said he is “working very closely” with Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to “reconstruct exactly what went down.” Horowitz has been conducting a separate review of bias and FISA abuse since March 2018 and is expected to finish in May or June. Republicans are looking forward to Horowitz’s report, with some saying they expect criminal referrals to come down for high-ranking agents.
Barr also said Wednesday that multiple investigations of “criminal leaks” are underway.
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