Page:Durham Report.pdf/17

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
that are foundational to the rule of law – many of which were initially adopted in the aftermath of Watergate – is essential to this effort.[1]

In the aftermath of Crossfire Hurricane and the FISA surveillances of Page, the Department has adopted other important policies. We discuss them, and possible additional changes, in portions of the report that follow.

II. Executive Summary

The public record contains a substantial body of information relating to former President Trump’s and the Trump Organization’s relationships with Russian businesses, Russian business people, and Russian officials, as well as separate evidence of Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. These and related subjects are well-documented in the careful examinations undertaken by (i) the Department’s Office of the Inspector General of issues related to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and its use of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) authorities,[2] (ii) former FBI Director Robert Mueller as detailed in his report entitled “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” issued in March 2019,[3] and (iii) the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence entitled, “Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election.”[4] The scope of these earlier inquiries, the amount of important information gathered, and the contributions they have made to our understanding of Russian election interference efforts are a tribute to the diligent work and dedication of those charged with the responsibility of conducting them. Our review and investigation, in turn has focused on separate but related questions, including the following:

  • Was there adequate predication for the FBI to open the Crossfire Hurricane investigation from its inception on July 31, 2016 as a full counterintelligence and Foreign Agents
  1. ↑ U.S. Department of Justice, FYs 2022–2026 Strategic Plan at 15. See Attorney General Message – DOJ Strategic Plan (July 1, 2022), https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-announces-department-justice-2022-26-strategic-plan. See also U.S. Department of Justice, OIG, Department of Justice Top Management and Performance Challenges 2021 (“One important strategy that can build public trust in the Department is to ensure adherence to policies and procedures designed to protect DOJ from accusations of political influence or partial application of the law”), https://oig.justice.gov/reports/top-management-and-performance-challenges-facing-department-justice-2021; Attorney General Memorandum, Additional Requirements for the Opening of Certain Sensitive Investigations at 1 (Feb. 5, 2020) (“While the Department must respond swiftly and decisively when faced with credible threats to our democratic processes, we also must be sensitive to safeguarding the Department’s reputation for fairness, neutrality, and nonpartisanship”) (hereinafter “Sensitive Investigations Memorandum”).
  2. ↑ See supra footnote 11.
  3. ↑ See supra footnote 2
  4. ↑ See supra footnote 10; see also Intelligence Community Assessment, Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections (Jan. 6, 2017).

7

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.