The Justice Department Inspector General is investigating Republicans’ allegations that prosecutors and FBI agents misled a federal judge so they could track a Donald Trump campaign adviser with ties to Russia, reports Politico. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz will review what federal personnel knew when they asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, in the midst of a political campaign, for a warrant to monitor the communications of Carter Page, an adviser to then-presidential candidate Trump. The IG announcement was prompted by allegations from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) and other Republicans that federal investigators omitted key information from their October 2016 application for the warrant to monitor Page. Nunes says officials failed to disclose that a private intelligence dossier they used to make their case was financed in part by Democrats.
Democrats dispute the GOP claims, noting that DOJ and FBI officials disclosed that the dossier had political origins and that federal judges renewed the warrant on Page three times after its initial approval. “Thanks OIG & DOJ for looking into the wrongdoing that has thus far left a cloud over the 2016 election,” Page tweeted Wednesday. The surveillance court, authorized under a 1978 law, oversees requests for surveillance on foreign spies inside the U.S. Sometimes, the court has allowed intelligence agencies to sweep the emails and phone calls of American citizens, raising privacy concerns and constitutional questions.