OVERSIGHT OF THE FBI AND DOJ ACTIONS IN ADVANCE OF THE 2016 ELECTION JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 19, 2018 Serial No. 115–100 (Committee on Oversight and Government Reform) Serial No. 115–34 (Committee on the Judiciary) Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.Govinfo.gov http://oversight.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 31–522 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM Trey Gowdy, South Carolina, Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland, Ranking Darrell E. Issa, California Minority Member Jim Jordan, Ohio Carolyn B. Maloney, New York Mark Sanford, South Carolina Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia Justin Amash, Michigan Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri Paul A. Gosar, Arizona Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Jim Cooper, Tennessee Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Thomas Massie, Kentucky Robin L. Kelly, Illinois Mark Meadows, North Carolina Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan Ron DeSantis, Florida Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Dennis A. Ross, Florida Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Mark Walker, North Carolina Jamie Raskin, Maryland Rod Blum, Iowa Jimmy Gomez, Maryland Jody B. Hice, Georgia Peter Welch, Vermont Steve Russell, Oklahoma Matt Cartwright, Pennsylvania Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin Mark DeSaulnier, California Will Hurd, Texas Stacey E. Plaskett, Virgin Islands Gary J. Palmer, Alabama John P. Sarbanes, Maryland James Comer, Kentucky Paul Mitchell, Michigan Greg Gianforte, Montana Vacancy SHERIA CLARKE, Staff Director WILLIAM MCKENNA, General Counsel SEAN BREBBIA, Senior Counsel for Investigations STEPHEN CASTOR, Chief Investigative Counsel SHARON CASEY, Deputy Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin Jerrold Nadler, New York Lamar Smith, Texas Zoe Lofgren, California Steve Chabot, Ohio Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas Darrell Issa, California Steve Cohen, Tennessee Steve King, Iowa Hank Johnson, Georgia Louie Gohmert, Texas Ted Deutch, Florida Jim Jordan, Ohio Luis Gutierrez, Illinois Ted Poe, Texas Karen Bass, California Tom Marino, Pennsylvania Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Hakeem Jeffries, New York Rau´ l Labrador, Idaho David Cicilline, Rhode Island Doug Collins, Georgia Eric Swalwell, California Ron Desantis, Florida Ted Lieu, California Ken Buck, Colorado Jamie Raskin, Maryland John Ratcliffe, Texas Pramila Jayapal, Washington Martha Roby, Alabama Brad Schneider, Illinois Matt Gaetz, Florida Val Demings, Florida Mike Johnson, Louisiana Andy Biggs, Arizona John Rutherford, Florida Karen Handel, Georgia Keith Rothfus, Pennsylvania SHELLEY HUSBAND, Staff Director BRANDEN RITCHIE, Deputy Staff Director BOBBY PARMITER, Chief Counsel for Crime and Terrorism ZACH SOMERS, General Counsel PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on June 19, 2018 ............................................................................... 1 WITNESSES The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 11 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 (V) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER OVERSIGHT OF THE FBI AND DOJ ACTIONS IN ADVANCE OF THE 2016 ELECTION Tuesday, June 19, 2018 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, JOINT WITH THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C. The committees met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in Room HVC–210, Capitol Visitor Center, Hon. Trey Gowdy [chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform] presiding. Present from the Committee on Oversight and Government Re- form: Representatives Gowdy, Issa, Jordan, Amash, Gosar, DesJarlais, Foxx, Massie, Meadows, DeSantis, Walker, Hice, Rus- sell, Grothman, Palmer, Comer, Mitchell, Gianforte, Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Clay, Connolly, Lawrence, Watson Coleman, Krishnamoorthi, Raskin, Plaskett, and Sarbanes. Present from the Committee on the Judiciary: Goodlatte, Chabot, King, Gohmert, Poe, Ratcliffe, Roby, Gaetz, Johnson of Louisiana, Biggs, Rutherford, Handel, Rothfus, Nadler, Jackson Lee, Cohen, Johnson of Georgia, Deutch, Bass, Jeffries, Cicilline, Swalwell, and Schneider. Chairman GOWDY. Good morning. The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Judiciary will come to order. Without objection, the presiding member is authorized to declare a recess at any time. I am pleased, as I know my colleagues are, to see so much inter- est in today’s hearing. As a reminder to our guests, the Rules of the House of Representatives prohibit any disruption or manifesta- tion of approval or disapproval of the proceedings, such as shout- ing. Disrupting the proceedings is a violation of D.C. law and the House Rules, and it will not be tolerated, and this will be your only warning. Welcome, Inspector General Horowitz. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman. Chairman GOWDY. Yes. Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chairman, before we hear from the Inspector General, I feel compelled to say something about a topic that is a more immediate priority. We have all seen the pictures of immigrant children ripped apart from their parents at the border. These children are not animals. They are not bargaining chips. They are not leverage to help Presi- dent Trump build his wall. They are children who have been forc- ibly removed from their parents in our name. Every day that they (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER 2 are separated from their parents is a day we do irreparable harm to their health and well-being. The United States should be better than this. We should not put children in cages. The minute this hearing adjourns, sooner if we can—— Chairman GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, regular order. Mr. NADLER. —I hope our committees can work together to end this cruel practice without delay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman GOWDY. The gentleman from Virginia has requested regular order. The gentleman from New York has been given more time than would have been afforded the other side had we pulled something like that. So with that, we will welcome you, Mr. Horowitz, for what I think is a hearing on your inspector general report and to decisions made and not made in 2016. We will be in recess until the Capitol Police restore order. [Recess.] Chairman GOWDY. The committee will come to order. Inspector General Horowitz, just for your knowledge, the chairs and ranking members will give opening statements, then you will be introduced and recognized for your opening statement. What we’re doing today does not happen everywhere. We are tak- ing institutions with long and distinguished histories, institutions we need, institutions we rely upon, and we’re applying scrutiny, re- view, and inspection. We’re testing, we’re probing, we’re chal- lenging, we’re even criticizing. And we’re doing this because we need these institutions to be above reproach. We need them to be respected and trusted. We need them to be above bias, taint, and prejudice. We need these in- stitutions to be fair, just, evenhanded, proportional, and wholly im- mune from the vagaries of politics. That’s what we expect and demand and need from the Depart- ment of Justice and the FBI, and those expectations should be con- sistently exacting, because the power we give prosecutors and law enforcement is an awesome power. The power to prosecute, the power to charge, the power to indict is the power to impact reputations. It is the power to deprive peo- ple of their liberty. It is the power in some instances to even try to take the very life of a citizen. And we give police and prosecutors tremendous powers, and with those powers comes a corresponding expectation of fairness and just dealing. This inspector general’s report should conjure anger, disappoint- ment, and sadness in everyone who reads it. This IG report lays bare the bias, the animus, the prejudging of facts by senior FBI agents and senior attorneys. And attempts to minimize and miti- gate this bias are so antithetical to what we want and deserve in our law enforcement officers, and it is dangerous to the broader community. I have seen media efforts, and I have seen efforts from some, not all, but some of my Democrat colleagues to shift the burden of bias unto those impacted by that bias, that it is somehow the responsi- bility of those affected by bias to show how that bias negatively im- pacted them. VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:51 Nov 02, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 H:\31522.TXT APRIL KING-6430 with DISTILLER 3 What a dangerous shifting of the burden. It is not the public’s job to prove the bias shown by the FBI did not influence decision- making. It is the FBI’s job to prove to the public that this manifest bias was not outcome determinative.