Republican Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday announced that the Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate the circumstances that led to a former Trump campaign aide’s surveillance.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Sessions made the remarks about the investigation at a press conference when answering a question about a GOP memo that alleged abuses in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrants obtained to surveil one-time Trump adviser Carter Page.

The memo, commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman and known Trump ally Devin Nunes, alleged the DOJ and FBI abused their surveillance powers when obtaining FISA warrants for Page, further speculating that an anti-Trump dossier from 2016 was the main reason for obtaining the warrants. The bureau, however, first obtained FISA warrants to surveil Page in 2014, when they suspected he had been compromised by Kremlin operatives.

“We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the highest standards in the FISA court, and yes it will be investigated, and I think that’s just the appropriate thing,” Sessions said. “The inspector general will take […]