The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses that enabled the Justice Department to spy on Carter Page, the committee chairman promised Thursday.
“I promise everyone in the country that, in the Senate, we are going to have hearings on the FISA process,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican.
Mr. Graham has been pushing for documents on the FISA process for two years. Republicans have said the FISA warrant is a proof of an anti-Trump bias among the FBI and Justice Department.
“Did they take what was apparently a molehill of evidence against Trump to open up an investigation as an insurance policy in case he won? I don’t know, but what I’ve heard bothers the hell out of me,” he said at speech before the Heritage Foundation.
“We are going to get the bottom of that as best we can,” Mr. Graham said.
The promise for a hearing comes just days after Mr. Graham demanded the Justice Department had over a wide array of documents related to the FISA warrant. Republicans have charged the warrant is based on the so-called Steele dossier.
The dossier, authored by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, contains salacious and unverified claims about Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia.
Mr. Graham said he intends to ask top FBI and Justice Department officials about the dossier’s role in granting the government the authority to spy on Mr. Page. Among his proposed questions is whether the warrant could have been obtained without the dossier, he said.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.