Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson and Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and FBI Director Christopher Wray Friday, requesting documents related to Christopher Steele, the former British operative who compiled the infamous Trump dossier.

Republicans have expressed concern about Steele's role in the origin of the Russia investigation, which they believe has unnecessarily plagued President Trump for two years. Much of the information in Steele's dossier was initially unverified. Some of it has since been corroborated, though many of the sensational claims remain unverified. This has led some to be skeptical about how much the FBI relied on the dossier when opening the counterintelligence investigation into whether Mr. Trump worked with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

"We understand that State Department employees received unverified memoranda Steele authored about candidate Trump and Russia (commonly referred to as the Steele dossier) in the summer of 2016, met with Steele and one of his colleagues in October 2016, documented that October meeting and topics discussed therein, and referred the information to the FBI. We seek all material related to those incidents along with an explanation of when the State Department provided it to the FBI," the senators wrote in the letter.

The letter also claimed that "Steele's intent of the meeting with the State Department was to maximize the impact of the unverified information that he had acquired in an effort to undermine the Trump campaign."

The two chairs have also recently "raised questions about any FBI awareness of leaks to the media and possible efforts to use briefings with the Trump transition team as covert intelligence gathering operations."

Mr. Trump has often pointed to the Steele dossier as the document which instigated the investigation, and has said that the origin of the Russia investigation was the true scandal. </s> Top Republican lawmakers demanded answers Friday on whether the FBI was warned of anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele’s "political motivations" before the bureau applied for a surveillance warrant against a Trump campaign aide based in part on that document.

In a pair of letters to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., cited newly revealed notes that a State Department official took during a meeting with Steele in October 2016, just 10 days before the first warrant application and a month before the presidential election. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has also written separate letters to Pompeo and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

FORMER TOP FBI LAWYER ON DEFENSE AS IG PROBE ON SURVEILLANCE ABUSE NEARS CLOSE

Those notes, first reported by The Hill, say that Steele’s security firm Orbis was “keen to see this information [in the dossier] come to light prior to November 8,” suggesting that it wanted the information to directly influence the 2016 presidential election.

"Based on the publicly-released version of the typed notes of the meeting, it appears Steele's intent of the meeting with the State Department was to maximize the impact of the unverified information that he had acquired in an effort to undermine the Trump campaign," Grassley and Johnson wrote. "Further, if that information was included in the material submitted to the FBI, then the FBI may have been aware of Steele's political motivations before submitting any FISA application."

They specifically want to know when the State Department shared these details with the FBI. An email from the official, Kathleen Kavalec, was sent on Oct. 13, 2016, though the recipient's identity is completely redacted, as is an attachment.

The notes, as published by The Hill and posted by Citizens United, also point to the involvement of opposition research firm Fusion GPS, noting that firm co-founder Glenn Simpson and colleague Peter Fritch recommended Steele's group for the job.

The dossier was eventually published by BuzzFeed News in 2017 and is filled with salacious and unverified claims about alleged dirt the Russians had over Trump. It is believed to have formed a significant part of the FBI’s application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, which did not find evidence of many of the claims within the dossier, fresh scrutiny has returned to the dossier and the role it played in the Page warrant application.

INSPECTOR GENERAL PROBING ROLE OF TRUMP DOSSIER IN SECURING SURVEILLANCE WARRANT FOR AIDE

Republicans have pointed to Steele’s political motivations, as well as the funding of the dossier by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign, as proof that the origins of the probe were political as well.

“This important information further demonstrates the bias of the primary source of material that was the basis for the Carter Page FISA warrant,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote.

The notes also said that Steele indicated he had been in communication with reporters, which Johnson and Grassley say contradicts the FISA warrant application, “where the FBI repeatedly represented to the court that Steele did not have unauthorized contacts with the press prior to October 2016.”

The lawmakers want to know about the FBI’s communications with the State Department and what information was provided to it about the meetings -- specifically when State provided the notes about the meeting to the FBI. Graham also requested that the State Department make the official who took the meeting with Steele, Kathleen Kavalec, available for a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee.

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The new revelations come as Horowitz is believed to be approaching the end of his investigation into the FBI and DOJ’s surveillance conduct in the 2016 election, and whether the agencies acted improperly. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Horowitz's team has questioned why the FBI considered Steele a credible source, and why the bureau seemed to use news reports to bolster his credibility.

President Trump has repeatedly called the Russia investigation a “witch hunt” while Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers last month that “spying did occur” during the campaign. </s> The State Department has largely avoided scrutiny from GOP-led investigations of the Steele dossier, but that changed this week with the release of notes that a State Department official took during an October 2016 meeting with dossier author Christopher Steele.

In letters this week to Sec. of State Mike Pompeo, GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina pressed Pompeo for details about the Oct. 11, 2016 meeting, which was held at Foggy Bottom between Steele and Kathleen Kavalec, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs.

Steele, a former British spy, was investigating President Donald Trump and his campaign on behalf of the Clinton campaign and DNC.

Kavalec’s notes from the meeting, which were released this week, show that Steele told her about contacts he had with the media, including The New York Times and Washington Post. They also showed that Steele said that his client for his anti-Trump research campaign (which he did not identify at the time) was “keen” to see information on Trump released prior to the Nov. 8, 2016 election.

Steele also made dubious or inaccurate claims to Kavalec, including that Russia had planted a mole within the DNC and that the Russian government had a consulate in Miami.

The trio of Republicans say that the notes contradict some of the claims that the FBI made in applications for surveillance warrants against Carter Page, the former Trump campaign adviser. The FBI relied heavily on Steele’s unverified dossier to obtain the spy warrants.

In a letter sent to Pompeo on Thursday, Grassley and Johnson, who chair the Senate Banking and Senate Homeland Security Committees, respectively, asserted that any contacts that Steele had with the media would contradict what the FBI claimed the Carter Page warrants.

“If true, that would contradict the Carter Page FISA application where the FBI repeatedly represented to the court that Steele did not have unauthorized contacts with the press prior to October 2016,” they wrote.

“Based on the publicly-released version of the typed notes of the meeting, it appears Steele’s intent of the meeting with the State Department was to maximize the impact of the unverified information that he had acquired in an effort to undermine the Trump campaign,” they added.

Kavalec’s notes were obtained by Citizens United through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Hill first published the documents.

“Further, if that information was included in the material submitted to the FBI, then the FBI may have been aware of Steele’s political motivations before submitting any FISA application,” Grassley and Johnson added.

They are asking Pompeo to disclose when the State Department informed the FBI about Steele’s dossier or the meeting with Kavalec. The bureau obtained its first surveillance warrant against Page on Oct. 21, 2016, ten days after the Kavalec-Steele meeting.

In a letter sent Friday to Pompeo, Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sought communications between Steele and State Department employees, as well as between State employees and the Justice Department regarding Steele.

He is also asking Pompeo to make Kavalec available for a transcribed interview.

Victoria Nuland, who served as Kavalec’s boss at the bureau of European and Eurasian affairs, was the government official who approved an FBI agent in Rome meeting Steele in early July 2016.

Jonathan Winer, who then served as special envoy to Libya, also met with Steele in Summer 2016. The pair had known each other since 2009, and Steele shared more than 100 of his private intelligence reports with Winer over the years. Winer, who shared those reports with others at the State Department, appears to have set up the meeting with Kavalec. He is mentioned throughout Kavalec’s notes.

Winer was also a source for at least two news articles written by reporters who received information from Steele. Michael Isikoff and David Corn revealed in a book they co-authored that Winer was a background source for stories they wrote before the 2016 election. The Daily Caller News Foundation has published emails showing that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, who hired Steele, was in contact with Winer the day before Isikoff’s article was published on Sept. 23, 2016.

Alex Jones presents CSPAN footage of Republican rep. from Ohio Jim Jordan as he grills Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee about their true intentions behind questioning Attorney General Bill Bar. </s> • Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee reportedly leaked private text messages between the top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat and a lobbyist connected to former British spy Christopher Steele.
• The messages were part of Sen. Mark Warner's effort to set up a meeting with Steele.
• The committee and FBI are using Steele's research as a roadmap in the Russia investigation.
• Warner informed his colleagues on the panel of his communications with the lobbyist months before they were leaked to the press.

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Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee leaked the private text messages between a top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat and a Russia-linked lobbyist to the media, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, exchanged the messages with lobbyist Adam Waldman after Waldman said he could put Warner in touch with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

Steele compiled the dossier alleging collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. He is a central figure in Republican inquiries about the integrity of the FBI's Russia investigation.

Fox News first published the messages between Warner and Waldman, in which Warner appeared to be working to establish contact with Steele in an effort to get him to testify before the Senate panel as it investigates links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The messages that were published spanned two months, from March to May of last year. Warner initially tried to set up a meeting with Steele in London, but Steele was worried about leaks and wanted a bipartisan letter from the Senate committee inviting him to testify, according to the messages.

Trump and his supporters, especially those in right-wing media, latched onto the messages.

"Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch," Trump tweeted on February 8. "Warner did not want a 'paper trail' on a 'private' meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary."

Soon after, however, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, threw cold water on suggestions that Warner had acted to conceal his efforts to contact Steele.

"Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work," Rubio tweeted.

Waldman handed over copies of the messages to the Senate committee last year. In January, The Times reported, a staffer for Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, requested that the messages be shared with the House panel as well. Fox News published the transcripts days later.

Nunes' spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, who is conducting a separate investigation into alleged FBI misconduct, sent Waldman a letter asking about the nature of his relationship with Steele.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., right, and the committee's Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Senate investigators sound the alarm over the House Russia probe

The decision by Republicans on the House Intelligence panel to leak Warner's texts reportedly raised red flags for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on the Senate committee.

Warner and Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr were said to be so troubled by the leak that they reported it to House Speaker Paul Ryan, while also raising concerns about the meandering direction of the House Russia probe.

The committee's investigation began by focusing on the extent of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, and whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow at any point to tilt the race in his favor.

But Nunes confounded his colleagues last year when he secretly traveled to the White House to brief the Trump administration on classified intelligence that Trump later said "somewhat vindicated" his unproven claims that former President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the election.

Nunes recused himself from the Russia investigation last April amid an ethics probe into whether he disclosed classified intelligence during a press conference. The Ethics Committee closed the case in December. He is still officially recused.

Despite that, Nunes has remained very much involved in the committee's investigation and has since launched his own inquiry into purported corruption and anti-Trump bias within the FBI and the Department of Justice.

Along that vein, Nunes' staff authored a controversial memo last month alleging that the FBI and DOJ abused their surveillance authority when seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page shortly before the 2016 election.

Democrats on the panel later released their own rebuttal disputing many of the central claims in the Nunes memo. </s> Christopher Wray inherits the job at a challenging time given Trump's ousting of Comey, who was admired within the FBI.

The US senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly confirmed Christopher Wray to lead the FBI, replacing James Comey, who was abruptly fired by US President Donald Trump amid the investigation into Russian meddling in last year's presidential election.

The vote was 92-5 for Wray, a former high-ranking official in President George W. Bush's Justice Department who oversaw investigations into corporate fraud. Wray, 50, inherits the FBI at a particularly challenging time given Trump's ousting of Comey, who was admired within the bureau.

"This is a tough time to take this tough job," Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said during a relatively low-key Senate debate of the nomination. "The previous FBI director, as we know, was fired because of the Russia investigation. The former acting attorney general was fired. And we've had a slew of other firings throughout the government over the last few months."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said after the vote, "Chris Wray will bring character and competence to a city that is hemorrhaging public trust."

Wray won unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, with Republicans and Democrats praising his promise never to let politics get in the way of the bureau's mission.

Asserting his independence at his confirmation hearing, Wray said: "My loyalty is to the constitution and the rule of law. Those have been my guideposts throughout my career, and I will continue to adhere to them no matter the test."

'We need leaders with steel spines'

Trump roiled Washington on May 9 by firing Comey in the midst of his 10-year term as the FBI chief and as the law enforcement agency was investigating Russia's role in the election and possible collusion with Trump campaign officials.

Andrew McCabe has served as acting FBI director during the nearly three-month interim period.

Wray has worked on white-collar crime and regulatory cases as a partner at the King & Spalding law firm.

From May 2001 to May 2005, he held various high-ranking positions in the Justice Department, rising to the head of the criminal division in September 2003. He also served as principal associate deputy attorney general.

He was a federal prosecutor in the US attorney's office for the Northern District of Georgia from May 1997 to May 2001. Wray had represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal.

Wray is a graduate of Yale University, where he also received his law degree in 1992.

"Mr. Wray possesses the skill, the character and the unwavering commitment to impartial enforcement of the law that we need in a FBI director," said Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The top Democrat on the panel, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, said Wray "has the strength and fortitude to stand up and do what it is right when tested."

She added, "We need leaders with steel spines, not weak knees, and I am hopeful that Mr. Wray will be just such a leader."

Commenting on the vote, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said: "Today's bipartisan show of support is indicative of Wray's professionalism and commitment to independence. I have no doubt the FBI is in good hands with Mr. Wray at the helm." </s> WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday agreed to release a redacted version of a Democratic memo that seeks to undercut Republican claims of FBI surveillance abuses.

The House Intelligence Committee released the Democratic memo after the White House signed off following negotiations between the FBI and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, over what in the document should be redacted.

Earlier this month, the White House objected to releasing the memo, saying that sensitive material had to be removed first.

Schiff’s memo was written to rebut a Republican memo that accuses the FBI of suppressing Democratic ties to an opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia used in the FISA warrant for former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

Schiff and other Democrats charge that the Republican memo led by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes of California is misleading and omits key facts, including that the FISA application did state that ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, was paid by a political entity. FBI Director Christopher Wray also expressed concerns, publicly warning the White House that omitted information could impact the memo’s veracity.

The release of the Schiff memo caps an unprecedented and tumultuous period for the committee, which has now voted to release two classified documents using an obscure committee rule that had never been invoked previously in the panel’s history. </s> WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump on Saturday agreed to release a redacted version of a Democratic memo that seeks to undercut Republican claims of FBI surveillance abuses.

The House Intelligence Committee released the Democratic memo after the White House signed off following negotiations between the FBI and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, over what in the document should be redacted.

Earlier this month, the White House objected to releasing the memo, saying that sensitive material had to be removed first.

Schiff’s memo was written to rebut a Republican memo that accuses the FBI of suppressing Democratic ties to an opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia used in the FISA warrant for former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

Schiff and other Democrats charge that the Republican memo led by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes of California is misleading and omits key facts, including that the FISA application did state that ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, was paid by a political entity. FBI Director Christopher Wray also expressed concerns, publicly warning the White House that omitted information could impact the memo’s veracity.

The release of the Schiff memo caps an unprecedented and tumultuous period for the committee, which has now voted to release two classified documents using an obscure committee rule that had never been invoked previously in the panel’s history. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Justice Department lawyer Christopher Wray as FBI chief, nearly three months after the agency’s previous director, James Comey, was fired by President Donald Trump.

Wray, who was confirmed by vote of 92-5, will take charge of the country’s top domestic law enforcement agency during a federal probe into allegations of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia.

Since the dismissal of Comey on May 9, the Justice Department has appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the investigation with the help of the FBI. Russia denies any interference, and Trump has denied collusion with Russia.

Wray vowed in his confirmation hearing last month to remain independent and not be swayed by politics or pressure from the president. He also praised Muller as the “consummate straight shooter.”

He also worked with Comey on the government’s case in the Enron Corp fraud scandal in the early 2000s.

During the confirmation hearing, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Wray’s background showed he was committed to independence, an attribute he said was “vitally important” in the next FBI director.

Wray served as assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division at the Justice Department under former Republican President George W. Bush.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, both Democrats who served under President Barack Obama, endorsed Wray. </s> The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday asked the FBI to turn over memos prepared by former Director James Comey detailing conversations he had with the White House and Justice Department about the FBI’s Russia investigations.

Separately, four top members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote separately to the FBI and to the White House seeking any documents that detail communications between the fired FBI director and Trump, as well as other paperwork on the matter stemming back to the Obama administration.

“We need all those memos,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in an interview. “We’re going to try to get not just the Comey memo as you heard in my letter, but all memos, all communications between everybody — Comey, and other people in the hierarchy — and throughout the organization, wherever we have to, and over a long period of time.”

The senators requesting the documents — Grassley and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) — said they want the records by May 24. Grassley also said in the interview that he will "probably, yes" call Comey to testify before his committee.

In the Intelligence Committee, Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) also sent a letter Wednesday to Comey asking that he testify before their panel in open and closed sessions. The senators had previously asked Comey to testify in closed session this Tuesday, but he declined.

Their request follows a letter House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz sent the FBI on Tuesday asking for copies of memos documenting Comey's communications with President Donald Trump. “I have my subpoena pen ready,” the Utah Republican added on Twitter.

Lawmakers in both parties are demanding that Comey testify before Congress and that his memos be turned over after a New York Times report that Comey wrote in a memo that Trump asked him to shut down the FBI’s investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The Times also reported that Comey wrote memos detailing all his conversations with Trump.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has also invited Comey to testify before a Senate committee.
Republicans Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley request documents related to Christopher Steele, author of the Trump–Russia dossier, in a letter to United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the FBI Director Christopher Wray.