The Report by IG Horowitz is quite long. I have found that LawFare offers reliable summaries and analyses of such things. There are two posts up there on the Report, The first, by David Kris is longer at this point. Sober analysis as they, which means here as it usually does, that what is offered really is an analysis with minimal politics. He focuses, rightly I think, on the import of the Report for FISA work, and the need for some serious thinking about new guidelines and rules. The second is by Benjamin Wittes who seems to me a sort of law-and-order guy. Wittes' piece is the first of several so it will end up longer than the Kris piece. It too focuses on the programmatic issues. It seems to me to be clear that the Horowitz Report lays rest to the political conspiracy view of Trump. True, however, that the Report does not expressly rule out the possibility of a political conspiracy, but after a thorough investigation no evidence of a conspiracy was found. That should be enough. The Report identifies a large number of lapses, errors, and misconduct in prosecuting the investigation of the Trump campaign, and some managerial decisions that made things worse, or made the lapses more likely. Reforms are in order.
Kris offers some comment on the statements by Barr and Durham, both of whom come in for criticism. The writers at LawFare were moderately supportive of Barr when he was nominated, talking about prior service and professionalism. I do not think that Barr has lived up to that talk. He looks much more a political arm of the Trump administration than the head of law enforcement. As for Durham, I know little and that from recent news coverage. I have some doubts, but one must wait for the product. It is disappointing that there is still no report on the FBI leaks re the Clinton investigation. It is hard to believe that it really takes four years to complete that investigation.
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