President Trump accused the FBI on Tuesday of relying on ‘illegal’ methods to obtain evidence to spy on campaign adviser Carter Page.
A Fox News report revealed the that ‘unusual steps’ were taken in the process to the secure the FISA warrant that the FBI used to spy on Page in the Russian collusion and election meddling investigation.
The report was based on closed-door testimony that former top FBI attorney James Baker provided to Congress, in which he said he was personally involved in the application process.
President Trump accused the FBI on Tuesday of relying on ‘illegal’ methods to obtain evidence to spy on campaign adviser Carter Page
A Fox News report revealed the that ‘unusual steps’ were taken in the process to the secure the FISA warrant that the FBI used to spy on Page in the Russian meddling probe
Discussing the piece on ‘Fox & Friends,’ Judge Andrew Napolitano said that the FBI relied on an unproven dossier and went for an easier warrant
Trump continued to rail against the FBI in later tweets later in the morning on the same topic
He indicated in the tweets that he was still watching Fox News on Tuesday when he had very little on his public schedule
Discussing the piece on ‘Fox & Friends,’ Judge Andrew Napolitano said that the FBI relied on an unproven dossier and went for an easier warrant.
‘That has corrupted them, and that has enabled them to gather evidence by unconstitutional means and that’s what they did to the president,’ he said.
The president parroted Napolitano’s comments in a Tuesday morning tweet that referenced the original Fox report on Baker, as well.
‘FBI top lawyer confirms “unusual steps.” They relied on the Clinton Campaign’s Fake & Unverified “Dossier,” which is illegal. “That has corrupted them. That has enabled them to gather evidence by UNCONSTITUTIONAL MEANS, and that’s what they did to the President.” Judge Napolitano,’ he said.
The report that Napolitano had been on the program to discuss included direct quotes from Baker’s previously undisclosed testimony to House investigators in October.
The president parroted Napolitano’s comments in a Tuesday morning tweet that referenced the original Fox report on Baker
Baker said he took the unusual step of being briefing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, warrant before it went to former FBI Director James Comey, because of the sensitivity of the matter.
‘I wanted to see it when it was gelled enough but before it went through the process and before it went to the director. I wanted to see it and I wanted to read it because I knew it was sensitive,’ he testified.
The report was based on closed-door testimony that former FBI attorney James Baker provided to Congress
According to Fox, which said it had verified the transcript, an investigator asked Baker, ‘So that is why you took the abnormal or unusual step in this particular situation because it was sensitive?’
He replied, ‘Yes.’
‘So you actually got involved because you want to make sure that, what?’
And Baker explained, ‘I wanted to make sure that we were filing something that would adhere to the law and stand up over time.’
Napolitano said the transcript revealed the thinness of the FBI’s case against Page.
‘The standard is, has this person ever spoken to a foreign person, to a foreigner,’ he said. ‘So I could talk to my tailor in Midtown Manhattan and that would justify the FISA warrant on me.’
He said that it shows the ‘low standard’ for evidence on wrongdoing that FISA allows compared to a regular warrant.
‘It is obvious that there was an agenda, on the part of people in the FBI, to either cause President Trump to stumble, to prevent him from entering office, or to get rid of him once he was in office, and we keep getting snippets of this evidence,’ he said. ‘If they can do this to the president of the United States, they can do it to anybody.’
Lawmakers revealed last week that Baker is the subject of a criminal leak investigation for conversations he reportedly had with journalists.
He served as the general counsel for the FBI from 2014 until December 2017, when current FBI director Christopher Wray reassigned him.
The New York Times previously reported on a portion of his testimony to congressional investigators having to do with the president and allegations that he obstructed justice when he fired Comey.