On September 28, 2019, Lawfare posted “Judge John Bates on FISA in the News.” The episode page says Benjamin Wittes interviewed Bates in front of a live audience at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. They discussed the FISA court’s role, procedures, caseload, and “how the court might respond to cases that have an overtly political context.”
The Washington Examiner later reported that Bates, sitting down with Wittes, said he expected “a very thorough report — a very fair report from Michael Horowitz. He’s a good inspector general. He’s careful.” The Examiner piece also records Bates describing a “rumor mill” on the right about the Page applications and noting House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler’s public dismissal of a “terrible problem” with the Page application. Those are Bates’s and Nadler’s statements as the Examiner reported them. They are not findings.
On December 9, 2019, the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General released its review of the four Page FISA applications. That report is a primary about the FBI’s applications and the Department’s process. Bates is not the author. Do not write that he adopted, rejected, or “signed off on” the OIG’s conclusions unless a later Bates writing says so. No such writing is cited here.