Texas Rep. Will Hurd said Sunday that the media should be “outraged” at the FBI for lying about its surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, and regarding the infamous Steele dossier.
“I don’t understand why more people are not outraged. I don’t understand why Chairman Schiff’s not upset, because he was lied to by folks. The media was lied to about this,” Hurd told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Hurd, a Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, was responding to a Justice Department inspector general’s report which found “significant inaccuracies” in FBI applications for surveillance warrants against Page.
The FBI withheld exculpatory information regarding Page — including that he had a longstanding relationship with the CIA — as well as derogatory information about the Steele dossier. The IG report said that the dossier was “central and essential” to the FBI’s assertions that Page was a Russian agent.
“And if [Inspector General Michael Horowitz] would have came back and said that the Steele dossier was 100 percent true, I would be apoplectic because people would have lied to me and I’d be dragging them to the Hill to answer questions,” Hurd told Tapper.
Tapper said he agreed with Hurd’s assessment, though CNN has been at the forefront of defending the Steele dossier and the FBI’s use of the document to spy on Page.
“I agree with you 100 percent, there should be a lot more bipartisan outrage about this,” said Tapper.
CNN has asserted in reports and its broadcast coverage for nearly three years that parts of the Steele dossier have proved accurate. Tapper and other CNN journalists have also insisted on air that the FBI would have verified parts of the dossier before using the information in applications for FISA warrants against Page.
The IG report undermined those claims. It debunked some of dossier author Christopher Steele’s allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government, and said that the FBI did not corroborate any of the information regarding Carter Page before including it in the FISA applications.
Hurd, a former CIA officer, said he was especially upset at the IG’s finding that the FBI failed to disclose to surveillance court judges that Page had a relationship with the CIA.
“The real question is why were there 17 lies in this report. You had a guy who was helping one branch of the government, thinking he was helping his country and another branch of the government was using that as an excuse to say he was committing espionage,” said Hurd, who is retiring from Congress at the end of his term next year.
“As a former intelligence officer, that is absolutely outrageous,” he added.
The IG report said that the FBI agent in charge of the Page portion of the investigation failed to inform Justice Department and FBI lawyers that Page was an “operational contact” for the CIA. An FBI attorney identified as Kevin Clinesmith also altered an email from the CIA to say that Page was “not a source” for the agency.
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If the Media claims anger that they were deceived, they should be ashamed. They had plenty of indications that there were problems, but did nothing to investigate. In truth, THEY were involved in collaborating with the Left in hiding from the public the truth as it only now is being reported (and that only because they could no longer hide the facts and lie about it without being laughed out of their employment). Both the Left and the Media are now trying to save face by acknowledging a portion of the truth, but attempting to convince the public that only NOW are they learning of the “mistakes.” Hogwash…they all have known it for a long time…remember the false report put out by the Democrats (contradicted by Nunes’ report, which turns out now to have been accurate even as the Media denied it). The facts were out there; the Media purposely chose to either ignore it or deny it as it did not serve their desire to benefit the Left and their hatred of President Trump. We should not allow them to re-write history with their fictional creations.
“I did not have sex with that woman” from the highest office in our land validated ‘lying’ ….It has become ‘almost’ vogue….and makes for great salacious headlines that sell !
Rep Hurd is in our next door District and I have often question his party affiliation, but on this issue he is right!! The media ‘should’ be ashamed for dancing on destruction of a nation, however, Schiff is a pathological unbalanced man and doesn’t need anyone ‘feeding’ him lies….I suspect his dramatic readings are due to his attempt to recapture his fame from the senior class play.
Remember “If you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem” GET OUT THE VOTE…BACK A CANDIDATE !!