President Trump seems to be ignoring the facts laid out in Monday's Justice Department inspector general's report, which disputed his claim that the FBI probe into possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia was illegal and motivated by political bias. The report's findings are "far worse than anything I would have imagined," Trump told reporters Monday, per USA Today, claiming "this was an attempted overthrow and a lot of people were in on it, and they got caught." While the report cited serious problems—especially in applications for a warrant to monitor the communications of former Trump adviser Carter Page—Trump said it showed officials "fabricated evidence," "lied to the courts," and "did all sorts of things to have it go their way." He also slammed FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said the report showed the investigation had proper authorization, per the Washington Post.
"I don't know what report [Wray] was reading, but it sure wasn't the one given to me," Trump tweeted Tuesday. The New York Times isn't surprised. Trump campaign officials predicted the report would reveal an anti-Trump conspiracy inside the FBI, and when it didn't, they followed a familiar script to "skew the results and prepare for the next opportunity ... to create expectations about finding proof of a 'deep state' campaign against Mr. Trump." In his own statement, Attorney General William Barr, overseeing a separate investigation into the Russia probe by US Attorney John H. Durham, said the report showed "an intrusive investigation" based "on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken." Durham added he disagrees with conclusions on "predication and how the FBI case was opened." (More Russia investigation stories.)
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