Lindsey Graham: DOJ used anti-Trump dossier in court

I just saw Lindsey Graham on one of the Fox News talk shows. He told the host, Brian Kilmeade, that the infamous anti-Trump dossier was used in court by the Department of Justice. I take it Graham means that the dossier, or information it contains, was used by the DOJ in the FISA court to gain approval for surveillance of Team Trump.

We have suspected that this was the case. Now Graham apparently has seen evidence that confirms our suspicion.

Graham made his statement in the context of calling for a special counsel to investigate matters relating to the dossier, an issue that, he noted, falls outside the purview of Robert Mueller. Graham said that it has been very difficult to obtain information from the Justice Department, but that recently he discovered information that “bothers him a lot” and convinces him of the need for the dossier to be investigated by someone outside of the DOJ.

Graham didn’t say in so many words that the dossier was used to obtain a surveillance warrant. However, he said that when the Department of Justice presents a document to a court, it has a duty to the court to be “up and up” regarding “what the document is about, who paid for it, and what their motives might be.” Graham added that having looked at the history of the dossier and how it was used by the Department of Justice, he is “really very concerned.”

Putting two and two together, Graham is saying that the DOJ was not “up and up” about the dossier when it presented information contained therein to the FISA court. I don’t see how his statement to Kilmeade can mean anything else.

I hate the idea of another special counsel. However, Graham is right to be skeptical about the Justice Department’s ability fairly to investigate itself on a matter like this.

UPDATE: The video is below. The discussion relevant to this post begins at around the 4:30 mark.

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