Categories: Politics

Vox Sentences: The investigation into the investigation

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Claims of bias in FBI probe into Russian interference are debunked; New Zealand suffers deadly volcanic eruption.

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The FBI’s watchdog growls

A long-awaited report is out by the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog into the 2016 investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The report criticizes “inaccuracies and omissions” in warrant applications but found no direct evidence of anti-Trump bias. [Politico / Josh Gerstein]
Read the executive summary of the report here. [Washington Post]
The big question that led to the report: Did the FBI really start investigating the Trump campaign’s links to Russia because of a tipoff about campaign aide George Papadopoulos? Or was something bigger going on, as Trump has claimed? [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
The report found that the investigation really did begin from a tip, and that the tip was sufficient justification. [NYT / Katie Benner]
It refutes conspiracy theories that the FBI planted spies in the Trump campaign. [Vox / Jen Kirby]
The report does find fault with the process of obtaining a court order to monitor Carter Page; the report alleges that the FBI made several omissions and provided false information about why it wanted to monitor the Trump campaign staffer. [New York Times / Sharon LaFraniere, Eileen Sullivan, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldman and Charlie Savage]
This isn’t the last report into the origins of the Russia probe. There’s also another ongoing investigation by John Durham, a US attorney handpicked by Attorney General Bill Barr. [Washington Post / Devlin Barrett, Matt Zapotosky, Karoun Demirjian and Ellen Nakashima]
Durham criticized the inspector general report on Monday — raising the alarming possibility that his criticism is politically motivated. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

New Zealand volcanic eruption kills at least five

An eruption of the most active volcano in New Zealand killed at least five, with many more missing. [New York Times / Jamie Tarabay]
While the White Island volcano is known as the most active volcano in New Zealand, this is the first time it has erupted since 2001. [BBC]
Five people are confirmed dead, eight people are missing, and 31 remain in the hospital after the eruption. [BuzzFeed / Picture of Matthew Champion]
White Island is a popular tourist spot and many tourists are among the afflicted. Ray Cas, a professor emeritus at Monash University, felt that the site was too dangerous for tourism. “White Island has been a disaster waiting to happen for many years,” said Cas. [The Standard / Luke O’Reilly]

Miscellaneous

A California church is using their nativity display to make a statement about immigration. [CNN / Hollie Silverman]
Government documents reveal that the American public has been misled about the war in Afghanistan. [Washington Post / Craig Whitlock, Leslie Shapiro, and Armand Emamdjomeh]
In 2019, it became cool to drink less. [Vox / Rebecca Jennings]
Los Angeles’s housing market might be up for big changes as the renovation craze descends on the city. [Wall Street Journal / Will Parker]
Labour is catching up, but the Tories still hold an extensive lead in the much-anticipated British elections. [The Guardian / Daniel Levitt]