“The American people understand that when it comes to the Department of Justice, when it comes to the FBI, that we have thousands of men and women who each and every day are dedicated to enforcing the laws and protecting our families and protecting our country,” Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News Monday evening.
“But the American people also have a sense that we all do, that things went awry in 2016 and we need to know what happened. We need to get to the bottom of the facts.”
Pence spoke shortly before a high-level meeting at the White House, where President Trump directed FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats to look into reports that his campaign was surveilled.
In a statement after that meeting, President Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee announced that the Justice Department inspector-general will expand his current probe “to include any irregularities” on the part of the FBI or the Justice Department “concerning the Trump campaign.”
Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Horowitz is currently investigating alleged FISA abuse by the FBI. His investigation into the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe reportedly is complete and his conclusions are expected to come out any day now.
In her statement, Sanders told reporters, “It was also agreed that White House Chief of Staff Kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ, and DNI together with Congressional Leaders to review highly classified and other information they have requested.”
Nunes has been trying for months to get a look at classified documents that will explain how the Trump-Russia investigation started in the first place: “All we’re asking is, give us the documentation that you used to start this investigation,” Nunes said on Sunday.
Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News on Monday evening that President Trump is “grateful” that the Justice Department inspector-general will be looking into whether the Trump campaign was surveilled for political purposes.
“I think it would be very troubling to millions of Americans if that took place, but we are very confident that as the inspector general has been doing their work, looking at the conduct of the FBI during that period, by adding their focus to this that we will get to the bottom of it, because the American people have a right to know.”
“Is there any suggestion that there will be a second special counsel that would be dedicated to that endeavor?” Fox News’s Martha McCallum asked Pence.
“I think at this point, the Department of Justice has made it clear that they’ll be expanding inspector general’s current investigation to include these allegations, and we don’t know what happened. We read the press reports, but it’s all very troubling. It’s all very troubling to those of us that hold the FBI in such high regard that there are even allegations that people were assigned to surveil or even spy on our campaign,” Pence said.
“But look, the inspector general has the resources to get to the bottom of it. He’s been working on a major report about the FBI’s conduct, and by expanding into this role we are very confident that we will get to the bottom of it, we will find out what happened and the American people and all of us will have the facts.
Asked if President Trump will exercise his authority to declassify documents for the sake of transparency, as some Republicans have suggested, Pence said it’s up to the president:
“It will be the president’s decision to determine what he declassifies and what he doesn’t, but the principle here that the American people have a right to know what happened, the people’s congress ought to have the ability to review those materials in a timely way is a principle that we adhere to in this white house.
On Sunday, President Trump tweeted: “I hereby demand … that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
The New York Times and the Washington Post on Friday reported the FBI used a retired American professor to interact with Trump campaign officials as part of the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe.
(Courtesy CNSNews.com)
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