Watchdog: Steele dossier ‘had no impact’ on opening of 2016 probe

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz said during a Wednesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the dossier prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele did not prompt the original DOJ investigation into members of the Trump campaign.

Horowitz appeared to discuss his report, released Monday, which found that the FBI’s decision to open a probe into Trump campaign associates was not motivated by political bias. Still, the watchdog found “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s application to the secretive court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) as part of its efforts to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page

“Can we speak for a moment to the Steele dossier, the Steele file in this case? I believe you have a pretty definitive statement on what impact that had on the initiation of that investigation. What was your conclusion?” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked.

“In terms of the initiation of the investigation, it had no impact,” Horowitz responded. “It was not known to the team that opened the investigation at the time they opened it.”

“So you’ve concluded in several different ways that there’s no evidence of political influence for the opening of this Crossfire Hurricane investigation?” Durbin asked, with Horowitz responding in the affirmative.

The handling of the so-called Steele dossier of opposition research on President Trump has been a leading point of criticism for Republicans concerned about the DOJ’s probe.

Durbin also asked Horowitz about a bill sponsored by himself and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would give the IG’s office the authority to investigate DOJ attorneys, saying, “It seems to me to be obvious” that they should have that authority.

“Do you know what the theory is behind their being separate?” he asked Horowitz.

“This is a legacy of history. Back in 1988 when the IG was created at Justice, the compromise was that attorneys would be carved out, and we would have jurisdiction over everybody else,” Horowitz responded, noting that the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration were once similarly carved out before then-Attorney General John Ashcroft brought them under one umbrella in 2002.

“We’re the only IG that can’t review conduct of all the employees in our organization, including attorneys,” Horowitz said.