FBI Caves, Will Hand Over Docs Related to Anti-Trump Dossier to Congress
The House Intelligence Committee will receive access to “all remaining investigative documents” to pursue its inquiry into the infamous anti-Trump “dossier.”
Fox News reported the documents will be in “unredacted form” as part of a deal struck Wednesday night between House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Nunes and other members of the committee, including Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., had been pushing for months for access to the documents following reports that the FBI may have used the Democrat funded dossier to justify in whole or in part the launching of an investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The agreement, which Nunes put in a letter, comes as the Department of Justice and the FBI faced a Wednesday deadline this week to respond to a congressional subpoena concerning the documents.
Nunes wrote that the committee is “extremely concerned by indications that top U.S. Government officials who were investigating a presidential campaign relied on unverified information that was funded by the opposing political campaign and was based on Russian sources.”
According to Fox, committee investigators will have access to key witnesses this month including FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, as well as FBI general counsel James Baker, who was reassigned last month shortly after anti-Trump text messages between Strzok and Page were made public, and DOJ official Bruce Ohr, who concealed meetings he had with figures involved with the dossier.
In texts, Strzok described Trump during the 2016 campaign as a “loathsome human” and an “idiot,” and found the prospect of him being president “terrifying.”
Strzok’s alleged mistress, FBI attorney Lisa Page, texted him, “There is no way he gets elected,” to which he replied, “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office …that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.”
Andy apparently referred to then-Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, who served under Comey. Following the release of the text messages, McCabe, 49, reportedly indicated he will be retiring early this year.
Last fall, Gowdy highlighted Democrat lawmakers’ resistance — including Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff’s, D-Calif. — to having FBI documents related to the dossier made available.
“I don’t know why anyone — from Adam Schiff, to Vanity Fair, to Rachel Maddow — would not be curious whether or not the world’s premier law enforcement agency relied upon a dossier in connection with an investigation without vetting it,” Gowdy told The Daily Caller.
“For the life of me I don’t understand why they are focused on this,” Gowdy added, “unless they are fearful that the bureau did rely on a piece of fiction.”
Schiff said during an interview on MSNBC in September, “I do have concerns with the majority issuance of these subpoenas to the DOJ and FBI. That was done over our opposition in the minority.”
“I think there’s a view if they discredit Christopher Steele (the dossier’s author), they can discredit the whole Russia investigation, or the whole Russia involvement in our elections,” he stated.
Gowdy dismissed Schiff’s and his fellow Democrats’ complaints about the unwarranted use of the subpoena power.
“I really don’t know what in the h— they’re talking about,” Gowdy said. “The investigators on (the Intelligence Committee) have been trying for months to obtain documents about the dossier, but when you get no response, then you go from a polite request to a firm request to a legal request.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
