Baker told lawmakers during testimony Oct. 4 and Oct. 18, 2018, that even though he rarely handled applications for surveillance warrants against American citizens, he reviewed one the FBI was seeking against Carter Page, the former Trump campaign adviser.
Baker, who resigned from the FBI in May 2018, also said he had a meeting Sept. 19, 2016, with a lawyer working for the DNC. The meeting was unprecedented for Baker, who told lawmakers he could not recall ever having met with an outside counsel during his FBI tenure.
That same attorney, Michael Sussmann, worked for the law firm that hired Fusion GPS, the company behind the Steele dossier. Sussmann was also peddling information related to the Trump-Russia investigation to media outlets during the same time period he was meeting with Baker.
Baker disclosed those details in testimony before a task force comprised of members of the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees. Republicans on the task force have investigated the FBI’s Trump-Russia probe, as well as its claims to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to obtain warrants against Page.
Baker defended the FBI’s handling of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications. He did not acknowledge his activities in the beginning stages of the FBI probe were improper or unethical.
Baker told lawmakers he normally did not handle FBI applications for surveillance warrants against American citizens, but made an exception for an application to spy on Page because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Baker said he wanted to review the initial FISA application relatively early in the process, before it reached the desk of then-FBI Director James Comey.