Doug Collins, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee stated that House Republicans on the committee would be focusing on the origins of the Russia probe during former Special Counsel Mueller‘s hearing on the issue.
In his opening comments in the hearing, Doug Collins — a staunch supporter of President Trump — said that he “look[ed] forward” to Robert Mueller’s findings from the “origins” of the investigation into Russian election interference.
“One element of this story remains: the beginnings of the FBI investigation into the president,” Collins said. “I look forward to Mr. Mueller’s testimony about what he found during his review of the origins of this investigation.”
Collins went on to bring up the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into the origins of the probe and how “baseless gossip can be used to launch an FBI investigation against a private American citizen.”
He also called on Congress to “protect the sanctity” of Americans’ voices “in our democracy” by “combatting election interference.”
“In addition, the inspector general continues to review how baseless gossip can be used to launch an FBI investigation against a private citizen, and, eventually, a president. Those results will be released, and we will need to learn from them to ensure government intelligence and law enforcement powers are never again turned on a private citizen or political candidate as a result of the political leanings of a handful of FBI agents. The origins and conclusions of the Mueller investigation are about the same things: what it means to be an American. Every American has a voice in our democracy. We must protect the sanctity of their voices by combating election interference.” He said.
The investigation that the Georgia Republican referenced to isn’t the only one looking into the origins of the Russia investigation.
As previously reported, Attorney General Bill Barr appointed U.S. Attorney from Connecticut John Durham to lead an investigation into the beginnings of Robert Mueller’s investigation, with the attorney “focus[ing] on whether the government’s methods to collect intelligence relating to the Trump campaign were lawful and appropriate, is separate from an investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general.”
