Debunking Charlie Kirk on FBI’s 2016 Trump-Russia investigation
By: Matthew Boedy
Tags: Charlie Kirk, Turning Point Usa, Trump, Russia, Facts

Photo: Gage Skidmore. Charlie Kirk speaking with the media at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C.

So it finally came on Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. The long-awaited report by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice concerning the FBI’s actions as it began an investigation concerning then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump sycophants have been waiting for this a long time, mandating it must show criminality and bias in the FBI and those who later were on Mueller’s special counsel team which was based on the initial investigation.

The news is clear: Many of the claims made by Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, were wrong.

Let me begin with some news summaries and then move into Kirk’s false allegations.

The Washington Post: The report “rebuts some of conservatives’ most sensational allegations about the case — including that top FBI officials were motivated by political bias and illegally spied on Trump advisers — but finds serious faults in other areas.”

The New York Times: The report “debunked President Trump’s accusations that former bureau leaders engaged in a politicized conspiracy to sabotage him.”

CNN: The report “did not find ‘documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions’ to open investigations” and also “refuted President Trump’s claims that the FBI illegally spied on his campaign.”

The full report can be read here.

Kirk’s False Allegations

Kirk has repeatedly tweeted about the investigation and repeatedly gotten it wrong. Here is one from last summer that sums up his claims:

None of this is true. No one spied on the incoming President. He wasn’t the incoming president when the actions of the FBI covered in the report happened.

The New York Times: “The inspector general also determined that F.B.I. did not place informants or undercover agents in the campaign, and it did not ask them to “report on the Trump campaign.” Nor did the inspector general find evidence that undercover agents or informants were told to meet with Trump campaign officials before the opening of Crossfire Hurricane.”

Politico: “Horowitz’s review did not find any indication that the FBI planted anyone in the campaign, as President Donald Trump has claimed….”

The Agents

Like many Trump sycophants, Kirk aimed his ire at two FBI agents who were removed from the Mueller investigation, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.

Here is a sampling of tweets about them from Kirk:

There was no plan to subvert democracy. And yes, those texts have been repeatedly misread and taken out of context by Kirk and others.

FISA Warrant

Like other Trump sycophants, Kirk also repeatedly said the IG investigation would uncover abuse of the FISA warrant system.

FISA is shorthand for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Wiretapping warrants were used on Carter Page, then a former Trump campaign staffer.

The New York Times: “Much of the [IG’s] report focused on the paperwork associated with the wiretapping of Mr. Page, who was first approved for targeting in October 2016, about a month after he had stepped down from the Trump campaign. The Justice Department obtained three renewals of court permission to eavesdrop on Mr. Page — two under the Trump administration.”

Here is a sampling:

The person Trump appointed to head the FBI disagreed, according to Politico and ABC News. “In an interview Monday, the FBI director was asked if he thought the bureau had unfairly targeted the Trump campaign. “I do not,” Wray told ABC News.”

And Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. That is a fact.

Obama did not play a role in the FISA warrants. In fact, the inspector general criticized the FBI for not keeping DOJ officials more notified and involved in the process.

The Washington Post: “While the inspector general concluded the FBI followed its procedures regarding investigations, it also recommended that in the future, such sensitive investigations involving major presidential campaigns be more closely supervised by the Justice Department.”

It is not a “FISA abuse report.” No one reported there was abuse of the system. The IG referred to omissions in applications and “sloppiness.”

The New York Times: “The report placed primary blame for the significant errors and omissions on sloppiness by F.B.I. case agents… The inspector general found that this pattern was not intentional, but that explanations offered in defense of the agents — such as that they were busy with the Russia investigation at the time and “the Carter Page FISA was a narrow aspect of their overall responsibilities” — were unsatisfactory.”

The Washington Post: “As a result of those findings, Horowitz has launched a broader audit of FISA work, to study how systemic those problems may be for FISA applications in counterintelligence and counterterrorism cases. He did not, however, conclude that the bureau’s applications to monitor Page should have been rejected.”

The warrants were not phony. They were real and used in part of the investigation. There was no spying on anyone.

Kirk’s reaction to report

Kirk continues to mislead and miss the context of those texts. On the Steele Dossier, according to The New York Times: “The report found that Mr. Steele’s information was not used in the opening of the Russia investigation, as Mr. Trump’s allies have frequently but falsely suggested as part of their claim that the F.B.I. spied on the Trump campaign as part of a politicized plot.”