Sen. Amy Klobuchar showed her former-prosecutor chops in Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, in which Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz testified about his examination of the probe conducted by the FBI into Russian efforts at interference in the Trump campaign and the 2016 election. In a rapid-fire question-and-answer portion of her questioning, Klobuchar and Horowitz deflated the Republican "witch hunt" talking points.
First off, Russian interference: "Does anything in your report call into question the finding in the special counsel's report that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a sweeping and systematic fashion?" she asked. "No, it doesn't," Horowitz answered, adding that his report cites the Mueller report and others that have all outlined that interference. The follow-up from Klobuchar: "Does anything in your report call into question Chairman Burr's statement that, quote, Russia is waging an information warfare campaign against the U.S. that didn’t start and didn’t end with the 2016 election?" His answer, "No, it doesn't."
What about the Mueller report finding that "quote, the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome?" Horowitz said, "We don't take issue with any part of the special counsel's report, no."
Then, in rapid-fire back-and-forth, she asked if he had "any evidence that political bias or other improper consideration affected the FBI's decision to open the investigation into" a series of players:
George Papadopoulos. "No, we don't."
Paul Manafort? "No, we don't."
Michael Flynn? "We did not"
Carter Page? "No documentary or testimonial evidence or other evidence."
"Did your report uncover systematic political bias at the FBI?" she asked. Horowitz responded, "As to what we looked at in the openings, we did not find documentary testimonial evidence to support a finding of bias."
So much for Attorney General William Barr's disinformation campaign. This, Democrats, is how to do it. Yes, no, unambiguous, without grandstanding.
