House GOPers probe DOJ, FBI brass for possible corruption: report
A small group of House Republicans are quietly investigating potential corruption and conspiracy among top officials at the Department of Justice and the FBI, according to a report.
The GOPers, led by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), are building a case against senior leaders at the DOJ and FBI who they believe mishandled information in a dossier that alleged ties between President Trump and Russia.
Revelations of the panel’s efforts — first reported by Politico — come as conservatives are increasingly questioning the credibility of the agencies as well as special counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing possible connections between Trump and Russia and Moscow’s efforts to influence the 2016 election.
The efforts of the group — which echo claims made by Donald Trump Jr. during a recent speech in Florida — could be used to discredit Mueller’s investigation.
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The special counsel investigation has faced intensifying criticism in the wake of the firing of FBI agent Peter Strzok, a key investigator who was found to have exchanged anti-Trump texts ahead of the election.
While Republicans in Congress sound the alarm, Trump has denied that he has any interest in firing Mueller.
Trump has repeatedly called Mueller’s work a “witch hunt” and he has disparaged both the FBI and DOJ.
Of the FBI, Trump tweeted earlier this month that “its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History!”
Nunes’ obsession with the salacious dossier composed by former British spy Christopher Steele stretches back months.
He has threatened both Attorney General Jeff Sessions and top FBI officials, vowing to hold them in contempt for not producing documents related to the dossier.
The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas for records related to the dossier in September, a move that Democrats saw as unnecessary.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) complained that the subpoenas were “uncalled for,” and accused Republicans of attempting to “discredit” the author of the dossier “rather than looking into how many of the allegations he wrote about were true.”
Last month, the firm behind the dossier claimed in a federal court filing that Nunes subpoenaed its bank records in an attempt to find out who funded the controversial and unverified information.
Fusion GPS, the firm that contracted Steele to dig up opposition research on Trump, was initially funded by a Republican consulting firm before Hillary Clinton’s campaign picked up the tab.
The dossier claims several people in Trump’s inner circle have close connections to the Kremlin and that Trump was filmed with prostitutes during a trip to Moscow in 2013.
Nunes’ office declined to comment to Politico about the covert committee work, but the lawmaker has made his feelings known.
“I hate to use the word corrupt, but they’ve become at least so dirty that who’s watching the watchmen? Who’s investigating these people?” he told Fox News this month. “There is no one.”
Schiff on Wednesday countered, warning that he believes Nunes and others jeopardizing the fate of the nation.
“These are things we have raised alarm bells about, and I think we need to raise them even further at this point,” he told MSNBC.
“The problem is not that GOP members came across information that was of concern, but rather there has been a concerted effort from the very beginning to try to build a case, any case, against Mueller and the FBI and the DOJ. Much of our leadership has never stopped being a surrogate for the White House.”
