The Justice Department watchdog excoriated the FBI for relying upon British ex-spy Christopher Steele's dossier in obtaining Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to monitor onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who released a report on Monday showing his findings regarding allegations of surveillance abuses, also found the FISA process was significantly flawed and marred by serious mistakes and missteps, but determined that the initiation of the Trump-Russia investigation itself crossed the low threshold to be properly predicated and was not influenced by political bias as some of President Trump's allies have alleged.

Horowitz's findings provide Trump and his allies fodder in their criticism of FBI and DOJ officials who investigated him, while Democrats, who have defended the FBI's actions, are engaged in an impeachment effort examining whether the president abused his office.

Attorney General William Barr seized on Horowitz's findings, declaring in a lengthy statement that the report shows the FBI's counterintelligence investigation was conducted in an inappropriate manner given the evidence the bureau had on hand.

"The Inspector General’s report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken," Barr said in a statement.