Hannity: Inspector general’s FBI FISA abuse probe may already be over

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is finally tightening the noose around a cabal of rogue FBI partisans who abused their senior positions within the bureau to wreak havoc on the Trump campaign in 2016.

In fact, the Justice Department’s investigation into the FBI’s alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) abuses may have already been concluded, according to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity. Sources close to the conservative commentator claim that Inspector General Michael Horowitz has already submitted a final report to Attorney General William Barr, and it may only be a matter of time before criminal indictments are issued.

The walls are closing in

“There will be explosive information — I mean, Sean this is an avalanche of information that’s going to come out, and your viewers are going to be astonished,” Fox News contributor and investigative journalist Sara Carter told Hannity.

“Maybe this week. Could be any day now,” Hannity guessed on his Monday evening show. “Sources are telling means that the it may now have already been handed to the attorney general.”

Tasked with oversight of the Justice Department and its subordinate agencies, last year the inspector general began exploring whether FBI leaders skirted legal requirements and broke with procedure when they filed FISA applications requesting surveillance of one-time Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Agents and prosecutors relied upon unverified opposition research to convince judges on the secret court to allow them to electronically monitor Page.

Even with “intelligence community concerns about the reliability” of the information used to obtain the FISA warrants, FBI officials moved forward with their surveillance operation, though they never uncovered any incriminating evidence against the Trump campaign.

A “devastating” report

Although Horowitz has remained out of the public eye for months, Barr has said that he expects the attorney general to wrap up his inquiry by late May or early June. While talking to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on his show last month, Hannity argued that the inspector general report was already “done, and it’s devastating.”

“I have sources telling me that Horowitz perhaps is even finished with his report and certainly the attorney general has been briefed on what is coming,” Hannity said at the time. Citing U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova, the Fox News star claimed that the original FISA warrant application and three subsequent extensions were illegally obtained.

Also in May, Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett pointed to agents who were “likely” facing legal repercussions from the inspector general’s report. According to Jarret, former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI General Counsel James Baker, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page are all in legal jeopardy.

He also added that former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper could “maybe” face charges, and “certainly” former British spy Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson ran afoul of the law.

Deep state reckoning

Simpson hired Steele to collect political opposition research on the Trump campaign for use by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Steele gathered salacious and uncorroborated information from Russian sources about Trump, and Comey, McCabe, and Baker later used these rumors as the basis for obtaining their spy warrant.

Brennan and Clapper became involved when Steele’s findings failed to produce anything convincing for prosecutors.

“It wasn’t verifiable, they couldn’t get anything out of it,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said during a March appearance on Fox & Friends. “So they sent spies into the Trump campaign, they tried to entrap Trump officials to admit they were working with Russia. That wasn’t working, so they were frustrated.”

Those spies also failed to uncover any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. Horowitz will address the use of government informants in a separate OIG investigation.

The FISA inquiry is just one of six ongoing inspector general investigations examining the conduct of FBI and DOJ officials during the early Russia investigation. May justice finally be served.