Inspector General Initiates FISC Review

This is absolutely incredible: The Inspector General's office has announced that it will, at the request of Jeff Sessions and a bunch of Republican creeps in Congress, initiate a review "that will examine the Justice Department's and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person," i.e. Carter Page.

BREAKING: DOJ Inspector General "will initiate a review" to examine "DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person." pic.twitter.com/QrQ0deIYEn

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 28, 2018

This, of course, is related to a centerpiece of the Republican strategy to discredit Special Counsel Bob Mueller's entire investigation: They argue that Page was illegally surveilled, despite the fact that Page has practically bragged about being an Russian agent.

Rep. Devin Nunes' infamous memo contended that Hillary Clinton and/or Democrats paid for the Steele dossier, and the FBI subsequently used it exclusively as justification to spy on Page, making the application unethically ideological in nature.

But of course Nunes' memo was trash: Rep. Adam Schiff's subsequent memo made clear, even with redactions, what manifest bullshit it was. Crucially, Schiff's memo recounted that the FBI had reasons independent of the Steele dossier to suspect Carter Page of "knowingly" assisting Russian intelligence officials, and further that the FBI provided the FISA court with information that corroborated the dossier's assertions.

So all of this is a fucking sideshow, with no purpose except to try to discredit Mueller — by defending a likely traitor.

The Trump administration is expending an awful lot of capital on Carter Page. So much so that it almost seems as though they feel confident they have unlimited capital to spend. Like people who know the party will never end.

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) March 28, 2018

Meanwhile, no word on whether the IG is inclined to initiate a review of how the FBI handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, and public disclosures thereof. Cough.