Rod Rosenstein says he wouldn't have okayed surveilling Trump aide if he knew about FISA errors

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein

(Image credit: JIM LO SCALZO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

last updated 3 June 2020

Yes, the Senate is still talking about former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to kick off the committee's hearings on the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Rosenstein oversaw the investigation, but noted that he wouldn't have okayed at least one part of it based on the information he has today.

Rosenstein signed off on four FISA warrants, which allow the surveillance of foreign agents, back in 2017 in the early days of the FBI investigation. One of those was for the surveillance of Carter Page, who was an aide to then-candidate Donald Trump. But as an inspector general report found after Mueller's report came out, the FBI's application to surveil Page had several errors; the IG did conclude the FISA error didn't affect the outcome of the investigation.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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