Nope it sure wasn't.....and a well predicated investigation is not spying. Trump already weaponized his DOJ to target the FBI with the ridiculous "Investigate the Investigators" snipe hunt starring Special Counsel John Durham. After 3 years of traveling the world all he found was that there was no "Deep State" out to get Trump and the FBI didn't act with political motivation.
This doesn’t happen by accident. These are professionals at the very top of their profession. And then within the FISA application there were 17 additional major things the FBI failed to do which fooled the court into granted them the right to spy.
list of FBI missteps related to the conclusion of the Russian investigation, specifically the probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Based on available information, including critiques from the Durham Report and other analyses, here is a list of identified FBI missteps in the handling and conclusion of that investigation:
1. Rushed Initiation of the Investigation: The FBI opened the "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation based on what the Durham Report describes as "raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence." Critics argue the agency moved too quickly to a full investigation without sufficient preliminary vetting or evidence, such as concrete proof of Trump campaign contacts with Russian intelligence.
2. Reliance on the Steele Dossier: The FBI heavily utilized the Steele Dossier, which contained unverified and uncorroborated allegations about Trump and Russia. The Durham Report notes that the FBI failed to corroborate a single substantive claim from the dossier and did not adequately scrutinize its politically affiliated sources.
3. Confirmation Bias: Investigators reportedly exhibited confirmation bias, overlooking or rationalizing exculpatory evidence that contradicted their suspicions about the Trump campaign. The Durham Report highlights this as a significant lapse in analytical rigor, particularly among senior FBI personnel.
4. Inadequate Pre-Investigation Steps: Before launching the full probe, the FBI did not conduct key interviews, thoroughly review its own intelligence databases, or apply standard analytical tools, according to the Durham Report. This omission potentially missed opportunities to assess the validity of the initial tip from Australian diplomat Alexander Downer about George Papadopoulos.
5. FISA Application Errors: The Justice Department Inspector General’s 2019 report identified
17 significant inaccuracies and omissions in the FBI’s applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor Trump campaign aide Carter Page. These included failing to disclose exculpatory evidence and misrepresenting the reliability of sources.
6. Failure to Interview Key Witnesses Early: The FBI missed opportunities to interview significant figures during critical periods, such as foreign individuals with potential Russia ties (e.g., Konstantin Kilimnik, Natalia Veselnitskaya) who attended Trump’s 2017 inauguration, as noted in critiques from the Center for American Progress Action.
7. Inconsistent Handling of Politically Sensitive Cases: The Durham Report suggests the FBI applied a different standard to the Trump investigation compared to probes involving Hillary Clinton. For example, it did not pursue potentially significant intelligence about Clinton’s campaign with the same urgency or scope.
8. Limited Investigative Activity in Key Areas: Despite opening a counterintelligence case on Carter Page in April 2016, the FBI conducted minimal activity in its New York field office until August, missing chances to track his July 2016 Russia trip, as highlighted in the Horowitz and Mueller reports.
9. Use of Confidential Sources Without Valuable Results: The FBI deployed a confidential human source to approach a high-level Trump campaign official in September 2016, but the interaction yielded no significant information, raising questions about the operation’s justification and oversight, per the Horowitz report.
10. Failure to Resolve Key Questions: The investigation left unresolved gaps, such as whether Trump attended a 2016 World Chess Federation event in New York with Russian officials present, due to insufficient resources or follow-up, as noted in the Mueller Report.
These missteps, drawn primarily from the Durham Report (2023), the Justice Department Inspector General’s report (2019), and other analyses, contributed to criticisms that the FBI’s handling of the Russia probe lacked rigor and objectivity. The FBI has stated it implemented reforms post-2016 to address such issues, arguing that these changes would have prevented the identified errors if in place earlier.
