Nunes: FBI Withheld Exculpatory Information On Carter Page From FISA Court

Rep. Devin Nunes on Sunday laid out the list of topics he hopes will be explained in a forthcoming Justice Department watchdog’s report on the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign, including details of a piece of exculpatory information regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page that the Republican says was withheld from surveillance court judges.

“We know there’s exculpatory evidence that we’ve seen on Carter Page that they didn’t give to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] court. That’s critical,” Nunes said in an interview on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” hosted by Maria Bartiromo.

On Monday, Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, will release a report on the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign, as well as surveillance against Page. 

The bureau relied heavily on the unverified Steele dossier in four applications for surveillance warrants against Page. The applications asserted that there was probable cause to believe that Page was working as an agent of Russia. The special counsel’s report undermined that theory by saying that there was no evidence that any Trump associates worked as Russian agents or conspired with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election.

Republicans have long hinted at exculpatory information that the FBI withheld from FISA Court judges. Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, began last year calling for the declassification of 21 pages in the fourth and final FISA application against Page. Those portions of the FISA applications have yet to be declassified, and it remains to be seen if Horowitz’s report will unveil the information.

Nunes also addressed reports that a now-former FBI lawyer who led the Russia probe in its earliest stages altered documents that were included in the Carter Page FISA applications. The New York Times and Washington Post have reported that the lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, has been referred to the Justice Department for further investigation.

Clinesmith has been identified as the FBI attorney who sent anti-Trump text messages, including one stating, “Viva le Resistance.” Clinesmith also took part in at least one interview with George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who is alleged to be the catalyst for the Trump-Russia investigation.

“If the news story’s true about the head lawyer doctoring evidence, that would be massive,” Nunes said of the reports about Clinesmith.