Attorney General William Barr issued new guidelines for the FBI to follow if they want to conduct surveillance on elected officials, candidates and their advisers or staff members, USA Today reports.
According to the new rules announced Tuesday, any FBI investigation must be "justified and non-partisan."
The new guidelines are aimed at addressing problems that took place during the early stages of the Russia investigation, according to the newspaper.
One of the changes involves the FBI to consider briefing an official, candidate or adviser that they might be compromised by foreign governments before applying for a surveillance warrant.
"When ... activities involve federal election officials, federal political candidates, or their respective staff members, the Department must be especially vigilant," Barr said in one of two memos highlighting the new rules. "Such intelligence activities must be subject to rigorous review to ensure that they are justified and non-partisan, are based on full and complete information, take into account the significant First Amendment interests at stake, and do not undermine the political process."
An inspector general's report that looked into the Russia probe found several errors, omissions and misstatements in the FBI's warrant applications to wiretap Carter Page in 2016 and 2017. A former FBI lawyer recently pleaded guilty to falsifying an email that investigators used to back up their continued surveillance of Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.
According to the newspaper, Barr's memos discuss several additional layers of requirements, approval and oversight on the FBI's surveillance activities.
Under the new guidelines, any warrant applications targeting elected officials must first be approved by the Justice Department and FBI leadership before they're submitted to surveillance court judges. Investigators seeking surveillance approval justify the need for it by explaining that other less intrusive tactics have failed.
The FBI will also create a new office that will examine the bureau's surveillance activities regularly.
"The American people must have confidence that the United States Government will exercise its surveillance authorities in a manner that protects the civil liberties of Americans, avoids interference in the political process, and complies with the Constitution and laws of the United States. What happened to the Trump presidential campaign and his subsequent Administration after the President was duly elected by the American people must never happen again," Barr said.
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