Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., released a memo slamming FBI surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in February 2018, when he was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — and though it was bashed by Democrats, the report released Monday by the Justice Department's inspector general bore out several key facts, according to news reports Friday.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, in his report on the Russia investigation, ripped the FBI on its Page surveillance, The Washington Post reports, though the document concluded the agency was justified in beginning its Russia probe.
Perhaps the biggest finding by Horowitz was that the FBI found many errors and omissions in the bureau's applications to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court to obtain warrants to track Page's activities and actions.
"We identified at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications, and many additional errors in the Woods procedures," Horowitz wrote.
"These errors and omissions resulted from case agents providing wrong or incomplete information to [the Justice Department National Security Division's Office of Intelligence] and failing to flag important issues for discussion."
Horowitz also found that a now-former FBI lawyer altered a document to make it appear as if Page was not a source for another government agency, when in fact he was — "a fact that could have been exculpatory for Page," the Post reports.
The inspector general, however, said it was not clear whether the errors and omissions were intentional, though Nunes' memo did not specifically charge that, according to the report.
Despite Democrats' suggestions that "there was really nothing amiss here," the Post reports, Horowitz "sure doesn't seem to believe the Justice Department was particularly rigorous or transparent here."