Top House Intel Committee Republican 'Laser-Focused' on Info CIA Gave FBI for Russia Probe
Rep. Devin Nunes of California, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, disclosed two areas of interest Sunday for congressional investigators looking into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
In an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Nunes said that investigators are “laser-focused” on information that the CIA gave the FBI in 2016.
The congressman also said that he is personally interested in three Russian-Americans somehow linked to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Nunes did not elaborate on the specifics of what he is interested in exploring, but he referred in his interview to new revelations about the Steele dossier, which the FBI used to secure federal authority to wiretap former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
He also cited an intelligence community assessment produced in the waning days of the Obama administration that asserted the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election specifically to help Donald Trump.
U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating FBI and CIA activities in 2016 and 2017, is reportedly investigating the CIA’s role in crafting the intelligence community assessment.
The New York Times reported in February that Durham has sought records regarding former CIA Director John Brennan.
“The CIA gave information over to the FBI in 2016. We now are laser-focused on that. We need to know exactly what did the CIA give to the FBI in 2016,” Nunes said Sunday.
“I’m also interested in three Russians — actually Russian-Americans — that we’re looking into,” he added.
Nunes will be limited in his ability to conduct the investigation given that Republicans no longer control the House.
However, several Senate Republicans have ramped up their investigations in recent weeks of the Steele dossier and Crossfire Hurricane probe.
On Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina released newly declassified transcripts of FBI informants’ conversations in 2016 with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos.
Graham also released new versions of the FBI’s applications for wiretap warrants against Page.
Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin released newly declassified footnotes from the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
The footnotes said that the FBI received evidence in 2017 that Russian operatives may have fed disinformation to Steele.
The footnotes also said that the U.S. intelligence community gave the FBI a report in June 2017 that two Russian intelligence operatives knew as of July 2016 that Steele was investigating Trump.
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