The Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Wednesday that he opened an investigation into allegations that the FBI's surveillance capabilities were politicized in advance of the 2016 election.

Here's what he said:

In a statement released Wednesday, Horowitz said, “The OIG will initiate a review that will examine the Justice Department’s and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable DOJ and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) relating to a certain U.S. person."

"As part of this examination," he added, "the OIG also will review information that was known to the DOJ and the FBI at the time the applications were filed from or about an alleged FBI confidential source."

The new investigation was an answer to requests from Republican members of Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Horowitz said that the investigation would include a review of "the DOJ’s and FBI’s relationship and communications with the alleged source as they relate to the FISC applications.”

“If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the review," the statement continued.

FBI adds agents to Hillary Clinton investigation

Meanwhile, FBI Director Christopher Wray dramatically expanded the number of staffers assigned to sift through the documents to fulfill a request from the House Judiciary Committee in their own investigation into alleged FISA abuse and Clinton's email scandal.

The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands," Wray said. "Regardless, I agree that the current pace of production is too slow."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) complained about the developments, saying, "It seems that this subpoena is intended to speed up that production to pivot the discussion back to Hillary Clinton and divert attention from the chaos surrounding the Trump administration and allegations involving the Trump campaign."

Here's a Fox News report on the new development: