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House GOP prepares to grill DOJ official linked to Steele dossier
The Hill ^ | 08/14/18 | Olivia Beavers

Posted on 08/14/2018 5:44:54 PM PDT by yesthatjallen

House Republicans are gearing up for a closed-door interview with Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr, which is slated to take place later this month.

Ohr, who served as the department’s associate deputy attorney general and now currently works in the criminal division, is the latest target among House conservatives who claim there is ample evidence of bias against President Trump in the DOJ and FBI during the 2016 election.

The DOJ and the committee reached an agreement for Ohr to appear before the committee on Aug. 28, DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores confirmed.

This means Ohr will not be under subpoena power when he interviews with congressional investigators on the House Judiciary and House Oversight and Government Reform committees. The two panels are conducting a joint investigation into FBI and DOJ conduct during the 2016 election.

While the committee staff are expected to do most of the questioning, several key Republican lawmakers have stated that they will return for their high profile guest.

“We're going to interview Bruce Ohr — not in a public circus setting, but in a deposition with no time limits,” House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told Fox News on Monday, noting that he will come back to Washington to question him.

“And we are going to get to the bottom of what he did, why he did it, who he did it in concert with, whether he had the permission of the supervisors at the Department of Justice,” Gowdy added.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) also said he will not miss the interview, telling The Hill on Tuesday: “I’m definitely going to be there.”

Ohr has increasingly come under Republican scrutiny for his contacts with Simpson and former British spy Christopher Steele during the heated presidential campaign, a revelation that sparked demands from Trump allies for its own special counsel investigation into the DOJ and the FBI last December.

Glenn Simpson, co-founder of opposition research firm Fusion GPS, hired Steele to help compile the controversial dossier that made a series of salacious allegations about President Trump’s ties to Russia. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign funded some of the research included in the dossier, which has become a major flashpoint among conservatives.

Ohr’s wife Nellie worked for Fusion GPS during the 2016 election, a fact that Republicans have seized on as a possible connection that links the opposition research firm and the Justice Department.

Republicans now claim Ohr inappropriately became involved in the Russia probe, maintaining contacts with Steele even after the FBI ended its relationship with him as a source.

“Bruce Ohr worked for the Department of Justice. He had absolutely nothing to do with the Russia investigation other than he inserted himself by having contact with Christopher Steele,” Gowdy told Fox News.

“He even had contact with Chris Steele after the FBI terminated its relationship with Chris Steele. So this is one branch of the Department of Justice that says you’re not even fit to be an informant,” he continued.

The FBI used Steele as a source in their application to obtain a surveillance warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, according to the heavily redacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application released by the DOJ last month.

Republicans have sought to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference by claiming that officials during the beginnings of the probe overly relied on Steele as a source, someone they say showed clear bias towards Trump.

While the bureau noted in their application that Steele was likely “looking for information that could be used to discredit” Trump’s campaign, they still deemed him as a “reliable” source.

The FBI continued to view Steele as reliable even after they ended their relationship with him as a source, over his improper contacts with the press.

Trump has increasingly directed his fury towards Ohr in recent days.

“Bruce Ohr of the ‘Justice’ Department (can you believe he is still there) is accused of helping disgraced Christopher Steele ‘find dirt on Trump.’ Ohr’s wife, Nelly, was in on the act big time - worked for Fusion GPS on Fake Dossier,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

"The big story that the Fake News Media refuses to report is lowlife Christopher Steele’s many meetings with Deputy A.G. Bruce Ohr and his beautiful wife, Nelly,” Trump also tweeted on Monday, noting that he has never seen anything so “rigged” in his life.

The timing of the president's tweets came just days after sources told The Hill House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) is readying subpoenas for people connected to the controversial “Steele” dossier -- that is, if they do not agree to appear for a voluntary interview.

The committee is looking to also talk to Bruce Ohr's wife Nellie and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, two congressional sources told The Hill last week.

The committee will also go after other current and former FBI and DOJ officials including Jim Baker, Sally Moyer, Jonathan Moffa and George Toscas, the sources said. A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide confirmed to The Hill they plan to seek such interviews.

Toscas is expected to interview with committee investigators on Thursday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told The Hill on Tuesday.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: christophersteele; doj; dossier
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1 posted on 08/14/2018 5:44:54 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen

Feels like the ship is beginning to turn.


2 posted on 08/14/2018 5:51:48 PM PDT by TheZMan (I am a secessionist.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Feels like the ship is going in the exact same direction the ship has always been going in.

3 posted on 08/14/2018 5:53:37 PM PDT by chris37 ("I am everybody." -Mark Robinson)
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To: yesthatjallen

I have been saying for months Ohr is the deep state “Ear”


4 posted on 08/14/2018 5:56:14 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Off The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: yesthatjallen

Notice how the MSM refers to this as the House GOP vs the DOJ, as if this is just a partisan exercise.

This is how they engineer narratives.

The House RATS will also be in attendance.


5 posted on 08/14/2018 5:57:31 PM PDT by bkopto
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To: yesthatjallen

August 28th? Why not a year ago?

So he doesn’t show and by mid September the House decides to subpoena the guy. They’ll give him a date of, say, October 25th the show up. He comes in with his 25 attorneys in tow and pleads the 5th. Now he’s done it! The House will vote on what to do about it after the first session in January.


6 posted on 08/14/2018 6:02:25 PM PDT by Dogbert41 (When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe. -Luke 11:21)
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To: yesthatjallen

I could care less what Congress does.
I want to know what Alfred E. Sessions is going to do.


7 posted on 08/14/2018 6:03:03 PM PDT by tennmountainman ("Trust Sessions" Yeah Right!)
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To: yesthatjallen

I would like to see them do this to the FISA Judge(s) asking if they would have approved if they knew about opposition research funding the so call “evidence”?


8 posted on 08/14/2018 6:03:09 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
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To: yesthatjallen

9 posted on 08/14/2018 6:11:52 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: yesthatjallen

Lot's to talk about ...

10 posted on 08/14/2018 6:17:44 PM PDT by 11th_VA (Only MS-13 and Democrats want ICE Abolished)
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To: yesthatjallen

RESULTS COUNT.

Activity and movement without results are a waste of time and money.


11 posted on 08/14/2018 6:20:32 PM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (Liberalism is the philosophy of sniveling brats. - P.J. ORourke)
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To: Bonemaker
Don’t you just love hearings? 👎
12 posted on 08/14/2018 6:22:00 PM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
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To: yesthatjallen

Ooooh wow! This Is it! This is the one that will finally go absolutely no where, like all the rest of the limp wristed Repub-Iie-con investigations, and reveal absolutely nothing. Oh wait! Trey Gowdy will get his red meat out to the base and these corrupt taxpayer supported assholes will go back to their jobs and will walk free! Man I can’t wait....to see what else is on TV.


13 posted on 08/14/2018 6:23:27 PM PDT by Bommer (Jesus is God! Deal with it.)
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To: 11th_VA

Perhaps we could start a deck of cards.

BJ’s wife would be the Queen of Spades....


14 posted on 08/14/2018 6:24:31 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: yesthatjallen; Travis McGee
Travis Mcgee alerted us to Ohr months ago.

Each day as more of the DOJ/FBI attempted coup of President Trump is revealed.

The more valid and outstanding is Travis McGee's jpg, which shows and tells us, what was happening in the DOJ/FBI months before all of these emerging reports.

Months, ago Travis Mcgee started posting his Smug Thug shots of the seditionist thugs in the DOJ/FBI shown below.


15 posted on 08/14/2018 6:30:40 PM PDT by Grampa Dave ( Mexico's elite/white conquistadors have manipulated & interfered in our elections, since Ike!)
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To: yesthatjallen

If they expect to get any actionable intelligence out of Ohr they had better interview him quickly before the Clinton Hit Team gets hold of him. The Clinton’s have an impressive track record of doing in witnesses.


16 posted on 08/14/2018 6:36:49 PM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said theoal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: Bommer

“”””””””””””””Ooooh wow! This Is it! This is the one that will finally go absolutely no where, like all the rest of the limp wristed Repub-Iie-con investigations””””””””””””””

The last one got Peter Strzok fired.


17 posted on 08/14/2018 7:08:46 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: yesthatjallen

We need to see some arrests. This is getting old real fast.


18 posted on 08/14/2018 8:22:51 PM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.......)
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To: yesthatjallen

Behind closed doors? Figures,but Omorosa is all over cable 24/7


19 posted on 08/15/2018 2:31:18 AM PDT by ballplayer
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To: Dogbert41

“August 28th? Why not a year ago?”

Because Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of election season. Wouldn’t want to waste the good stuff a year ago.

Laying out Democrat scandal should build toward a high point in October.


20 posted on 08/15/2018 8:08:03 AM PDT by BeauBo
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