IG Horowitz Reveals Investigations Ongoing Into Reported FBI Leaks to Giuliani Over Clinton Probe

DOJ IG Michael Horowitz testified during today’s hearing on his report that contacts between Rudy Giuliani and FBI agents are being investigated, given concerns about leaks to the former New York mayor in 2016.

At one point during the hearing, Senator Patrick Leahy (D- VT) brought up the Peter Strzok–Lisa Page texts and asked, “You also, didn’t you, in your investigation find pro-Trump text messages from agents who worked on the Russia investigation?”

“That is correct,” Horowitz said.

He testified to Leahy that FBI investigators “should frankly never be using their government devices to have political discussions, whether they’re working on a sensitive matter or not.”

Leahy went on to say, “There was one occasion where I think bias did impact Russian work. The FBI appropriately kept quiet about the Trump Russia investigation during the 2016 election. The same can’t be said about the Clinton administration [sic]. Rudy Giuliani and others appeared to receive highly sensitive leaks from the New York FBI field office, leaks that likely contributed to Director Comey’s public announcement that he was reopening the Clinton investigation just days before the election.”

He asked Horowitz, “We know that a number of these leaks to Mr. Giuliani, which he then ran to the cameras and actually bragged about — what can you tell us about the New York field office’s leaks to Rudy Giuliani and others?”

“As we

noted publicly last year in our report, we were very concerned about that,” Horowitz said. “We put in the appendix charts showing all the different contacts. And subsequent to that report, and this continues to this day, we are investigating those contacts. We’ve issued a couple of public summaries so far about people we found violated FBI policy. We have other investigations ongoing that when we conclude it, we will also post summaries of. What’s proving to be very hard is to prove the actual substance of the communications between the agents and the reporter or the individuals, as you might guess, but we can prove the contacts. And under FBI policy you need authorization if you’re going to disclose information and have certain contacts.”

You can watch above, via CNN.