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Justice Department Watchdog to Release Russia Probe Report in December

Reuters

   WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department'sinternal watchdog said he
   expects to be able to release on December9 a long-awaited report on the
   origins of investigations intoalleged Russian interference in the 2016
   U.S. presidentialelection.

   In a letter sent on Thursday to Senate Judiciary Committee
   Chairman Lindsey Graham, Justice Department Inspector General
   Michael Horowitz said that he expected his office to be able to
   release the report next month"barring unforeseen circumstances."

   Supporters of President Donald Trump have claimed the report
   will raise questions about the legitimacy of FBI investigations
   into alleged links to Russia by Trump and some of his campaign
   advisers.

   A central issue the inspector general's office said the
   report wouldexamine is how closely the FBI stuck to the law and
   rules when it went to a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
   Court beginning in 2016 to obtain authorization to conduct
   electronic monitoring of "a certain U.S. person."

   Lawsuit by Page

   Carter Page, a one-time foreign policy adviser to Trump's
   2016 campaign, recently sued the Justice Department, accusing it
   of violating his privacy by failing to give him an opportunity
   to examine the report before publication.

   As of Wednesday, Page told Reuters he had not been allowed
   to examine a draft of the document.

   Another individual questioned at length last summer by
   representatives of the inspector general's office in connection
   with the forthcoming report was Christopher Steele, a former
   British intelligence officer who compiled a controversial
   "dossier" on alleged links between Trump and Russia for
   Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Democratic
   Party lawyers.

   The FBI cited reporting by Steele in documents sent to the
   Foreign Intelligence SurveillanceCourt when it sought permission to
   monitorPage, though other information used by the FBI in
   suchapplicationsremainsclassified.

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