Two leading House and Senate committees are examining the FBI’s
handling of its investigation into Russia’s possible links to Trump
campaign associates and the country’s alleged interference with the
2016 presidential election.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, headed
by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is investigating whether the FBI
wrongly included political opposition research from Trump’s opponents in
its probe, and then paid the author of that controversial report, a
former British spy, to work for the FBI on its investigation. The
committee’s probe began March 6 with the letter Grassley sent the FBI
and was furthered Monday with requests for information from the company
that did the opposition research.
“When political opposition
research becomes the basis for law enforcement or intelligence efforts,
it raises substantial questions about the independence of law
enforcement and intelligence from politics,” Grassley said Monday.
The
House Intelligence Committee, headed by Rep. Devin Nunes, R- Calif., is
looking into how classified documents containing foreign surveillance
transcripts with references to Trump’s transition team were illegally
disclosed to the media. The committee’s probe began Jan. 25.
The
leaks could have come from the FBI, a source close to the investigation
notes, because that agency requested multiple Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants that helped capture some of the foreign
surveillance. In addition, sources say, the FBI is not cooperating with
the House investigation, unlike the National Security Agency, which has
been transparent with the committee. In addition, multiple sources
suggest that British intelligence also passed along information to U.S.
intelligence agencies.
Meanwhile, the FBI will take full control
over the law enforcement investigation into Russia’s interference in the
election, Trump’s possible ties to Russia, as well as the leaks, Fox
News has learned.
In Grassley’s probe, he is calling into question
the FBI’s use of a “controversial and unsubstantiated dossier” compiled
by a political opposition research company against then-presidential
candidate Trump.
Fusion GPS, a Washington, D.C.-based research
and strategic intelligence company, was paid during the campaign by
backers of Trump’s Republican and Democrat opponents to perform
opposition research, Grassley said. And that company hired former
British spy Christopher Steele to write the dossier that was distributed
widely to political opponents, the media and the FBI.
The
unverified reported was published by the online publication BuzzFeed and
included embarrassing allegations that Russian intelligence supposedly
could use against Trump.
Most concerning, Grassley said, is that “Fusion GPS and Steele reportedly shared the dossier with the FBI, which then offered to pay Steele to continue his political opposition research on Trump.”
Grassley
wants to determine “the extent to which the FBI has relied on the
political dossier in its investigation.” The senator also has requested
documentation from Fusion GPS as to who hired and paid them, when Steele
was hired, how the FBI got involved and whether Fusion GPS was aware of
the FBI paying Steele.
Meanwhile, House Intelligence Chairman
Nunes said last Wednesday that a source in the intelligence community
presented him with “dozens” of reports that were produced from
“incidentally collected” communications between members of the Trump
transition team and foreign targets. Nunes met with his intelligence
source at a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in the
old executive office building on the White House grounds where they
could access the computers without being noticed. They couldn’t go to
the source’s agency and use the secured computer network, a source told
Fox News, because it would “out” the source.
Nunes said Trump
staff members’ identities reportedly were “unmasked” within intelligence
agencies through foreign surveillance unrelated to Trump or Russia, and
the names were illegally disseminated among intelligence agencies and
to the media in what many believe was an effort to embarrass Trump and
undermine his presidency.
At least one of those unmasked was
former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had information
about his communication with the Russian ambassador leaked to press,
resulting in a public scandal and his resignation.
Nunes’
committee, like the FBI, has been looking into what actions Russia took
against the U.S. during the 2016 election, whether anyone from a
political campaign conspired in the activities; whether the
communications of officials or associates of any campaign were subject
to any kind of improper surveillance; and which intelligence officials
leaked classified information that exposed foreign surveillance,
conversations between President Trump and other world leaders.
While
Nunes refutes Trump’s claims that Obama had him wiretapped during the
campaign, Nunes said “…. it's still possible that other surveillance
activities were used against President's Trump and his associates.”
An FBI spokesperson said the agency does not have a comment on Grassley’s letter or any additional comments on the House probe.