January 28, 2018
GOP Congressional investigators have written six letters to individuals or entities involved or thought to be involved in the funding, creation or distribution of the salacious and unverified "Trump-Russia dossier" believed to have been inappropriately used by the FBI, DOJ and Obama Administration in an effort to undermine Donald Trump as both a candidate and President of the United States.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SCS) wrote six Judiciary Committee letters requesting information from: John Podesta, Donna Brazille, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robbie Mook, the DNC, and Hillary For America Chief Strategist Joel Benenson.
A brief refresher of facts and allegations:
- The DNC and Hillary Clinton's PAC was revealed by The Washington Post to have paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS for the creation of a dossier that would be harmful to then-candidate Donald Trump.
- Fusion commissioned former UK spy Christopher Steele to assemble the dossier - which is comprised of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates.
- According to court filings, Fusion also worked with disgraced DOJ official Bruce Ohr, and hired his CIA-linked wife, Nellie Ohr, to assist in the smear campaign against Trump. Bruce Ohr was demoted from his senior DOJ position after it was revealed that he met with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson as well as Christopher Steele - then tried to cover it up.
- Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, denied under oath to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he knew about the dossier's funding, while Clinton's former spokesman, Brian Fallon, told CNN that Hillary likely had no idea who paid for it either.
- Current and past leaders of the DNC, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) also denied knowledge of the document's funding.
- Podesta met with Fusion co-founder Glenn Simpson the day after the Trump-Russia dossier was published by Buzzfeed News.
The Senate Judiciary Committee letters read in part:
Read the entire articleIn October 2017, the Washington Post reported that Hillary for America and the Democratic National Committee had funded, via Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele's creation of a series of memos relying largely on Russian government sources to make allegations against Donald Trump and his associates. A letter from the law firm Perkins Coie acknowledged that, " [t]o assist in its representation of the DNC and Hillary for America, Perkins Coie engaged Fusion GPS in April of2016" and that "the engagement concluded prior to the November 2016 Presidential electionthe Committee has been investigating the FBI' s relationship with Christopher Steele during this time his work was funded by Hillary for America and the DNC. The scope of our review includes the extent to which the FBI may have relied on information relayed by Mr. Steele in seeking judicial authorization for surveillance of individuals associated with Mr. Trump. It also includes whether any applications that may have been made for permission for such surveillance fully and accurately disclosed:(1) the source of Fusion GPS's and Mr. Steele's funding;(2) the degree to which his claims were or were not verified;(3) the motivations of Mr. Steele, his clients, and his sources; and( 4) representations about their contacts with the press.
