Sessions appoints federal prosecutor to investigate DOJ actions News
Sessions appoints federal prosecutor to investigate DOJ actions

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions [official website] appointed [text, PDF] US Attorney for Utah John Huber [official website] on Thursday to investigate determinations made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] in 2016 and 2017.

The investigation will look into the DOJ’s “compliance with certain legal requirements and Department and FBI policies and procedures with respect to certain applications filed with the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Huber is working with the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz [official website] on the investigation. The DOJ announced [press release, PDF] on Wednesday that the investigation will include reviewing “information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source. Additionally, the OIG will review the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.”

The appointment of the Huber was done instead of assigning a Special Prosecutor to the investigation. Sessions noted that the appointment of a Special Prosecutor requires the most “extraordinary circumstances” and would require that “the public interest would be served by removing a large degree of responsibility for the matter from the Department of Justice.”

A Special Prosecutor has previously been assigned [JURIST report] in May to investigate Russia’s involvement in 2016 presidential election. That investigation remains ongoing and has resulted in charges being filed against Attorney Alex van der Zwaan [JURIST report] in February and Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos [JURIST report] in October.