Free Republic

The Senate Intelligence Committee has sent a bipartisan letter to the Justice Department asking federal prosecutors to investigate Stephen K. Bannon, a former Trump confidante, for potentially lying to lawmakers during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times, was signed by the panel’s then-chairman, Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr, and its ranking Democrat, Sen. Mark Warner.

In his first month in office, Attorney General William Barr has sent a reassuring message to the beleaguered Justice Department -- he wants a return to basics after years of disruptive firings, tweet storms and scandals. In briefings, Barr has asked detailed questions about cases, suspects and legal arguments. He has wandered his fifth-floor hallway to converse about the law. Advisers and associates said the approach reflects Barr's low-key persona, and his top goals of steering the Justice Department out of the line of political fire, boosting public confidence in it, and improving the morale of its 110,000 employees. "Everything...

WASHINGTON—Congress is probing the Obama administration’s decision to use research by an ex-British spy to justify, in part, surveillance of an associate of​ Donald Trump, as Republican scrutiny rises of law-enforcement actions during 2016 presidential campaign. In the final days of the campaign, the Justice Department used information from Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence official, as part of its request for a secret court order to monitor Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump and his ties to Russia, say people familiar with the matter.

We all had our suspicions about what FBI agent Peter Strzok meant by “insurance policy,” which he wrote in a text to bureau lawyer Lisa Page, a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair. The text was one of 10,000 that were sent between these two FBI officials from August 15, 2015-December 1, 2016; this one was sent to Page in August of 2016. The Wall Street Journal reported that according to agents familiar with Strzok’s account, he was referring to the Russia investigation when he mentioned “insurance.” He was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation...