[Washington Examiner] Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses may be covered in redactions when it is released.Former Republican Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, now a Fox News contributor, said this week that this report, eagerly anticipated by Republican allies of President Trump, could be more heavily concealed than previous reports from the DOJ watchdog.
"Evidently, there’s an intra-agency debate and really a food fight if you will about the classification issues," Chaffetz said on Sean Hannity's show on Monday. "Remember in the last report put out by Horowitz, there were only seven words or so that were redacted. The Democrats threw a fit that they couldn’t see the whole thing. This could have 10-20% of the report redacted."
Chaffetz also said he has not seen any evidence to suggest FBI Director Christopher Wray has been "cooperative" and speculated that former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper may be involved in "behind-the-scenes fighting" as they are also "fighting" to defend themselves on TV.
Horowitz announced the completion of his investigation a little more than one month ago, an effort in which his team pored over more than 1 million records and conducted 100-plus interviews. The inspector general gave a draft to the Justice Department and the FBI for a classification review, after which the final draft will be delivered to Congress.
There has been scattered reporting about when the report will be released. Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo announced over the weekend that her sources were telling her it would be released on Oct. 18, as well as calling it "thick as a telephone book" and covering "more than just FISA abuse." On Monday, Bartiromo updated her report, tweeting, "IG report NOT out this Friday 10/18. Classifications being made. Likely end of month."
An official who spoke with Fox News disputed there being a tumultuous debate over redactions. "The FBI and the DOJ are working together smoothly on the declassification process," the official said.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, President Trump noted that the release of the FISA report is "coming out soon" and will shed light on a "corrupt election." Trump said he believes the string of misconduct "goes right up" to his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.
Republicans argue top Justice Department and FBI officials misled the FISA court by using an unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele to obtain warrants to electronically monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Democrats have dismissed the allegations of wrongdoing during the Trump-Russia investigation and are concerned that U.S. Attorney John Durham's review of the early stages of the Russia investigation, being overseen by Attorney General William Barr, may be an effort to discredit the work of special counsel Robert Mueller.