Lindsey Graham: Now We Know Carter Page FISA Warrant Was Based On "Garbage" Steele Dossier

Yesterday, the Department of Justice released a heavily redacted version of the FISA warrant used to surveil 2016 Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page. Sen. Lindsey Graham told CBS's 'Face The Nation' on Sunday that Steele's dossier was "garbage," and because "they never told the court that he was a paid operative in the Democratic Party" the FISA warrant (and those who filed it) need serious scrutiny.

DOJ and FBI falsely attested to the FISA court not once, not twice, not thrice, but four (!) separate times that Steele was not the source of Isikoff's September 23 article, which DOJ used to corroborate claims from Steele's dossier. In fact, Steele was the only source. pic.twitter.com/7qUhBmPG9f

— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 22, 2018

MARGARET BRENNAN: This morning the president is again accusing the Justice Department and the FBI of misleading courts and illegally surveilling his campaign. He’s pointing to these documents that were just released about Carter Page who was a campaign associate and has admitted to having advised the Kremlin at one point. You sit on Senate Judiciary. Is the president wrong?

SEN. GRAHAM: No I think that the whole FISA award process needs to be looked at. The warrant on Carter Page was supported mostly by dossier that came from Steele who is being paid by the Democratic Party to do opposition research and the dossier was collected I think from Russian intelligence services and if you ask the FBI today how much of the dossier on Trump has been verified. Almost none of it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But you do say mostly. Not entirely. Therefore was the surveillance justified?

SEN. GRAHAM: No not at all in my view. If the dossier is the reason you issued the warrant, it was a bunch of garbage. The dossier has proven to be a bunch of garbage.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So the president is correct?

SEN. GRAHAM: In my view that the warrant, the FISA warrant process needs to be looked at closely about Congress. The main reason they issued the warrant was the dossier prepared by Mr. Steele. They never told the court that he was a paid operative in the Democratic Party. The substance of the dossier to this day is a bunch of garbage.

Comey has NOT been telling the truth. He pretended the “dossier” was only a minor part of the warrant application that he signed to wiretap, claiming it was NOT a “critical part of it” and there was a “significant amount of additional material.” Demonstrably untrue.

— Gregg Jarrett (@GreggJarrett) July 22, 2018

Full interview: