Graham: IG Report On Russia Probe Will Be "Ugly And Damning" For DOJ
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham told FNC's Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures" that he wants to reveal what happened behind the scenes of the Russia investigation and is looking forward to when Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report is made public.
"I believe the Horowitz report will be ugly and damning," Graham said. "Mr. Horowitz is doing a very in-depth dive."
"I believe the Horowitz report will be ugly and damning," Graham said. "Mr. Horowitz is doing a very in-depth dive."
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, you've got three lanes here. You have what the committee will do, my committee, you've got Mr. Durham who's looking at criminality -- he's the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut -- And you've got the DOJ Inspector General report. I think it will be coming out in weeks, not days, not months. The Horowitz report will probably be ugly and damning regarding the Department of Justice handling of the Russia probe.
MARIA BARTIROMO: Tell me about that, we know that the DOJ is not prosecuting James Comey. Learned that about a month ago. We know we just got the so-called 302 out of Bruce Ohr, that's the investigation and interviews of Ohr with the FBI. And the IG report, we were supposed to get it months ago. How come it is so late?
GRAHAM: Every time you turn around you find something new. Mr. Horowitz is doing a very in-depth dive about the FISA warrant application. The behavior regarding the counterintelligence operation. He will send his report over to the Department of Justice, they will look at for classified information. I am going to meet with the Attorney General next week, I want to declassify as much as possible. On the American public to hear the story, I want all of this information to come out, I didn't want people to believe what I said I want them to read for themselves how bad it was.
The warrant application to the FISA court, I think quite frankly was a fraud. I want all the committee cases out, where they will notice Christopher Steele hated Trump and that he was an unreliable informant. I want this information coming out that the Steele dossier with information coming from Russia is unverified information, I want the transcripts surrounding interviews with Papadopoulos to be released where it was clear he was not working with the Russians.
I want it all out. I want people to see how this investigation got so off the rails and I want people to be held accountable and I am patient, and not in a hurry, I want to do it right.
BARTIROMO: Trey Gowdy says there some interviews of Papadopoulos ... that are so clear that he had nothing to do with it, but they did not present that to the FISA court. You mentioned George Papadopoulos, we had him on the show and he told me he's intending on testifying in front of your committee. When do you expect that to take place?
GRAHAM: What I want to do is get the Horowitz report and have him come testify about it. My job will be to make sure this never happens again. Do we need to change the FISA warrant application process to protect against this in the future? Do we need to have rules about counterintelligence investigations being open against politicians? Do we need to restructure the Department of Justice? These are things that Congress will be looking at. Durham will be looking at criminality, did someone violate the law? And Horowitz will be telling us about the good, the bad and the ugly and what should be done internally.
So a guy like George Papadopoulos, yeah, I would like to call him. I would like for him to tell the world what kind of interactions he had, where he had them, and what did he say that working with the Russians and is there verification that he told the informants early on that to work with Russia would be treason and a crime and I would never do that. If he did say that and they went ahead anyway, it raises a lot of concerns.
BARTIROMO: Senator you've done a lot of work on this. This is my final question on the subject, who do you think is the mastermind of this? Whose idea was it to insert Donald Trump into Russia meddling?
GRAHAM: You know, I really am very curious about the role that the CIA played here. We know that the FISA warrant application was based on a dossier from Christopher Steele that was biased against President Trump, that was one problem -- but this whole intelligence operation, what role did the CIA play? Who knew about this in the White House? There is a question! Was President Obama briefed on the fact that they were opening up the counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign? I would like to know that.
MARIA BARTIROMO: Tell me about that, we know that the DOJ is not prosecuting James Comey. Learned that about a month ago. We know we just got the so-called 302 out of Bruce Ohr, that's the investigation and interviews of Ohr with the FBI. And the IG report, we were supposed to get it months ago. How come it is so late?
GRAHAM: Every time you turn around you find something new. Mr. Horowitz is doing a very in-depth dive about the FISA warrant application. The behavior regarding the counterintelligence operation. He will send his report over to the Department of Justice, they will look at for classified information. I am going to meet with the Attorney General next week, I want to declassify as much as possible. On the American public to hear the story, I want all of this information to come out, I didn't want people to believe what I said I want them to read for themselves how bad it was.
The warrant application to the FISA court, I think quite frankly was a fraud. I want all the committee cases out, where they will notice Christopher Steele hated Trump and that he was an unreliable informant. I want this information coming out that the Steele dossier with information coming from Russia is unverified information, I want the transcripts surrounding interviews with Papadopoulos to be released where it was clear he was not working with the Russians.
I want it all out. I want people to see how this investigation got so off the rails and I want people to be held accountable and I am patient, and not in a hurry, I want to do it right.
BARTIROMO: Trey Gowdy says there some interviews of Papadopoulos ... that are so clear that he had nothing to do with it, but they did not present that to the FISA court. You mentioned George Papadopoulos, we had him on the show and he told me he's intending on testifying in front of your committee. When do you expect that to take place?
GRAHAM: What I want to do is get the Horowitz report and have him come testify about it. My job will be to make sure this never happens again. Do we need to change the FISA warrant application process to protect against this in the future? Do we need to have rules about counterintelligence investigations being open against politicians? Do we need to restructure the Department of Justice? These are things that Congress will be looking at. Durham will be looking at criminality, did someone violate the law? And Horowitz will be telling us about the good, the bad and the ugly and what should be done internally.
So a guy like George Papadopoulos, yeah, I would like to call him. I would like for him to tell the world what kind of interactions he had, where he had them, and what did he say that working with the Russians and is there verification that he told the informants early on that to work with Russia would be treason and a crime and I would never do that. If he did say that and they went ahead anyway, it raises a lot of concerns.
BARTIROMO: Senator you've done a lot of work on this. This is my final question on the subject, who do you think is the mastermind of this? Whose idea was it to insert Donald Trump into Russia meddling?
GRAHAM: You know, I really am very curious about the role that the CIA played here. We know that the FISA warrant application was based on a dossier from Christopher Steele that was biased against President Trump, that was one problem -- but this whole intelligence operation, what role did the CIA play? Who knew about this in the White House? There is a question! Was President Obama briefed on the fact that they were opening up the counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign? I would like to know that.
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