Inspector General report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation

The investigation looked into whether people associated with the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

[5][6] This announcement came in the wake of allegations by conservative politicians of misconduct by the FBI and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).

[12] The Inspector General stated that the review did not find evidence that "political bias or improper motivation influenced" the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

[13] Likewise, the review did not produce evidence that "political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open the four individual investigations" of George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Carter Page, who were either associated or formerly associated with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

[16] While the review did not find evidence that "political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page", it did find 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the FBI's four FISA applications made to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain warrants for the surveillance of Page.

[2][4] According to the Inspector General, "serious performance failures" reflected badly on "the FBI chain of command's management and supervision" of the FISA processes.

[34] Finally, the review did not produce evidence that "political bias or improper motivations influenced" the FBI's usage of confidential sources or undercover agents for interactions with members of Trump's campaign.

[35] Barr opined that the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was launched "on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.

[36] After the report's release, Horowitz attributed the warrant problems to "gross incompetence and negligence" rather than intentional malfeasance or political bias,[37] and stated: "The activities we found don't vindicate anyone who touched this.

Horowitz expressed surprise at Durham's statement, and in subsequent testimony stated his view that conclusions should not be announced until an investigation is complete.

[41] James Comey, who had been the FBI Director during the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, claimed in a Washington Post op-ed and on cable news shows that he was vindicated by the report's findings.

[46] In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Comey wrote: "the truth is finally out, ... and those who smeared the FBI are due for an accounting" and called upon Attorney General Barr to "acknowledge the facts" and "stop acting like a Trump spokesperson.

[51][52] On January 15, 2020, Kris filed a 15-page brief with the court in which he stated that the proposed changes do not appropriately address the problems uncovered by the IG report.

[53][54] FBI director Christopher A. Wray said he accepted the OIG's findings and had "ordered more than 40 corrective steps to address the Report's recommendations", and added it was "important that the inspector general found that, in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization".