FBI Apologizes To Court For Mishandling Surveillance Of Trump Campaign Adviser – By Samantha Raphelson (NPR) / Jan 11 2020
The FBI apologized to the secret court that handles national security investigations for the way it conducted surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser during the 2016 election, according to a court filing made public on Saturday.
FBI Director Christopher Wray outlined steps the bureau is taking to ensure it doesn’t make the same mistakes again. He wrote in the filing to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the FBI will tighten procedures governing wiretapping applications to the court, which oversees intelligence gathering under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The FBI response comes after a report last month from the Justice Department inspector general that revealed serious issues with the bureau’s applications to the court to wiretap former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The FBI suspected Page had possible ties to Russia.
That report prompted the court to take the highly unusual step of publicly rebuking the FBI and ordering the bureau to revalidate its work.
“The FBI has the utmost respect for this Court and deeply regrets the errors and omissions identified by the Office of the Inspector General,” Wray wrote in the filing, calling the FBI’s conduct in relation to the Page surveillance “unacceptable and unrepresentative of the FBI as an institution.”
“The FBI is committed to working with the Court and DOJ to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the FISA process,” he wrote.
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/11/795566486/fbi-apologizes-to-court-for-mishandling-surveillance-of-trump-campaign-adviser
