A new special counsel to investigate FBI & FISA abuses? Republicans just made a major first step

More than two dozen congressional Republicans took a major first step to initiating a second special counsel investigation in Washington on Friday, this time into potential misconduct at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and FISA abuses.

Lead by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), 25 Republicans co-sponsored legislation on Friday demanding a second special counsel be appointed.

"Expressing the sense of Congress that the Attorney General of the United States should appoint a Special Counsel to investigate misconduct at the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, including an investigation of abuse of the FISA warrant process, how and why the Hillary Clinton probe ended, and how and why the Donald Trump-Russia probe began," the resolution states.

What are the details?

The legislation, just 12 pages long, lists nearly four dozen reasons why a new special counsel investigation is needed. Some of those reasons include:

• "Misconduct" high in DOJ ranks may have led to "premature conclusion" of FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, despite clear evidence to suggest serious violations of the law occurred.
• Former FBI Director James Comey's seeming contradiction over when he chose to not bring charges against Clinton. He told Congress it was after investigators interviewed her. It was later revealed to have happened months earlier.
• The DOJ's failure to "fully investigation" Clinton for her part in the Uranium One deal and its connections to the Clinton Foundation.
• The DOJ using "politically biased, unverified sources" to obtain secret FISA warrants on Carter Page.
• The FBI failed to follow its own procedures, known as the "Woods Procedures," when obtaining the warrant on Page.
• The fact that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into President Donald Trump and Russia remains ongoing, despite uncovering hardly any evidence in two years. The legislation also alleges the investigation is "based on questionable and insufficient intelligence and biased motivations."
• The fact that Comey admittedly leaked information to a lawyer friend about his meetings with Trump.
• The text messages between FBI senior agent Peter Strzok and now-former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.
• The informant placed in the Trump campaign.
• The DOJ's refusal to comply with many requests made by Congress.

For all of those reasons, Zeldin wrote that "the DOJ and FBI cannot be expected to fully investigate themselves regarding this matter."

"The concerns of the American people are serious and the issues requiring an immediate, unbiased, independent, and thorough investigation are broad," he added. "The Attorney General of the United States should immediately appoint a special counsel to conduct a thorough and independent investigation of these grave concerns."

Read the full legislation below: