"Basic, fundamental and serious errors" by the FBI, especially in getting a warrant from the FISA court to "spy" on American citizens, has raised serious concerns about civil liberties from the left, center and right. Information presented to the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court was described by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz as misleading with 17 examples of “significant inaccuracies and omissions” including one case when a lawyer with the FBI altered an email to help persuade the court to approve a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign aide.

While many groups from the left that normally would be outraged by infringements on civil liberties by national security authorities remained relatively silent, presumably because criticism would politically benefit President Trump, others like the ACLU called for reform. Many on the right were not only outraged by these actions against civil liberties, but also how the FBI under the Obama Administration used misleading and altered evidence to obtain permission to spy on a political rival's campaign. They felt that even if the Inspector General could not find direct evidence to prove bias, the underlying bias was self evident and their actions were corrupt.