McCord took over the DOJ’s national security division in October 2016, when the first FISA application targeting Page was filed, and McCord reviewed that FISA and subsequent renewals. The FISA applications relied upon claims in British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s discredited and Democratic-funded dossier.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page and for the bureau's reliance on Steele's dossier. The Justice Department told the FISA court it believed the final two of four Page FISA warrants were “not valid."
Mary McCord, currently a Georgetown law school professor and former acting assistant attorney general for national security, was picked by the FISA court to serve as an amicus curiae, "friend of the court," with Georgetown announcing it last week.
Judge David Boasberg, the presiding FISA court judge, denied the Justice Department's efforts in January, seeking up to six months behind bars for ex-FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who pleaded guilty in special counsel John Durham’s Trump-Russia investigation, instead giving him probation.