An FBI official is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser, CNN reported Thursday.
The explosive finding is expected to be part of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's review of the FBI's effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide, CNN reported.
Horowitz will release the report Dec. 9, and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee two days later, CNN reported.
According to CNN, which cited unnamed sources, Horowitz turned over evidence on the allegedly altered document to John Durham, the federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William Barr to conduct a probe of intelligence gathered for the Russia investigation by the CIA and other intel agencies, including the FBI.
CNN reported the identity or rank of the FBI employee under investigation is not yet known, and it is not clear whether the employee still works in the federal government. No charges that could reflect the situation have been filed publicly in court.
The Justice Department and inspector general's office declined to comment.
CNN reported it is still not known how big a role the altered document played in the FBI's investigation of Page — or whether the FISA warrant would have been approved without the document. But according to CNN, the changes were significant enough to have shifted the document's meaning.
Some witnesses who have been interviewed in Horowitz's investigation have said they expect the inspector general to find mistakes in the FBI's handling of the FISA process, but that those mistakes do not undermine the premise for the FBI's investigation, CNN reported.