Rep. Ratcliffe: Second Special Counsel Needed in FISA Probe

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, called for a second special counsel to review the procedures used by the FBI to secure a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [FISA] warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, as there were "absolutely" abuses of the warrant process.

"I think not just the initial application, but the subsequent renewals have raised real questions about whether or not the FISA process was abused in order to obtain that warrant to surveil Carter Page," Ratcliffe, one of the few who has seen the application for the warrant, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" on Thursday.

Ratcliffe added "absolutely there were abuses of the FISA process," based on what he had seen, and that is why a second special council is "not just appropriate but necessary."

"Having reviewed the applications, only a special counsel will be able to have access to the documents and people relevant to fully investigating the abuses," Ratcliffe said. "In other words, the inspector general can't reach people beyond the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice and FBI to the extend it involves other agencies like the state department or former employees of the department of justice or FBI."

Ultimately, he said he believes a special counsel will find there were departures "from whether or not full disclosures were made as required to the FISA court as it relates to the dossier, the Christopher Steele dossier, and other documents used to get the warrant."

If that happens, then there is "all kinds of criminality" that would arise from such abuses, he said, as well as if it would be determined that perjury occurred while the FBI was seeking its warrants.

"All those things need to be looked at by special counsel," Ratcliffe concluded. "If there was perjury, that is a crime. All those things need to be looked at by special counsel because the American people clearly have concerns."

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