Posted on 05/13/2019 7:00:29 AM PDT by Red Badger
Top Republicans talked up classified documents on Sunday they believe will root out FBI misconduct in the early stages of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Over the past few days, GOP lawmakers demanded answers about when the FBI was informed about British ex-spy Christopher Steele's "political motivations" before his unverified dossier was used to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to wiretap Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sent letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to request documents related to a meeting between Steele and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec on Oct. 11, 2016 — 10 days before the first warrant application was submitted — and admitted he was encouraged by a client to get his research out before the 2016 election on Nov. 8, signaling a possible political motivation. The meeting was described in notes taken by Kavalec that were obtained by conservative group Citizens United through open-records litigation.
"In her notes, she indicates that Steele was urging to get the dossier out before the election," Graham, R-S.C., said on "Fox News Sunday." "And she also, in handwritten notes, indicates that it was paid for by the Democratic Party, the Clinton campaign, the dossier. The most important thing is, she transferred that information to the FBI. So the FBI is now on notice on October the 11th that their confidential informant is trying to get the dossier out for political purposes and that the State Department figured out the Democrats paid for it. How could they then go get a warrant based on that same document and not tell the court what the State Department told them?”
Graham, whose committee is investigating alleged FISA abuse, said there is one particular classified document he hopes will provide answers.
“There's a document that's classified that I'm going to try to get unclassified that takes the dossier — all the pages of it — and it has verification to one side," Graham said. "There really is no verification, other than media reports that were generated by reporters that received the dossier. So, the bottom line is the dossier has never been independently confirmed. It was used to get a warrant. They knew the author of the dossier was on the Democrat Party payroll. He hated Trump; they got the warrant anyway. Most Americans should be very upset about that. I'm very upset about it. And we're going to get to the bottom of it."
[Read more: Former Director James Comey: 'The FBI doesn't spy, the FBI investigates']
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., also sent letters to Pompeo and FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking information about Steele's meeting with Kavalec and the FBI's behavior once the bureau was informed by the State Department about Steele. The dossier, compiled by Steele, contains unverified claims about President Trump's ties to Russia. The FBI used it to obtain a FISA warrant and three renewals to wiretap Page. Republican investigators allege the FBI misled the FISA Court by not revealing Steele's Democratic benefactors or his anti-Trump bias in the warrant application process.
Attorney General William Barr has said he is "working very closely" with Horowitz to examine the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and alleged FISA abuse. That inquiry is expected to be completed in late May or June.
During an interview on Fox News, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said now that special counsel Robert Mueller's report is out and found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, there will be "justice" for individuals behind a counterintelligence investigation he views as being based on false pretenses.
"There are classified documents that I believe prove that there will be accountability on all fronts, Maria, for a couple of reasons," Ratcliffe, a former U.S. attorney, told host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. "You know, there's an old saying that justice delayed, is justice denied. But I think there's a Mueller exception to that rule. We've had to wait two years on Bob Mueller, but now that his report is out and there is no collusion, we can move forward.”
Bartiromo said she is being told the alleged misconduct stems all the way to former CIA Director John Brennan.
"Well, here's what we know about John Brennan in August of 2016. He briefed then Democratic Sen. Harry Reid on the Steele dossier," Ratcliffe said. "Brennan later testified under oath that the Steele dossier played no part of the intelligence community assessment, and that was a demonstrably false statement."
Ratcliffe listed Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper as ex-officials who he believes will face accountability.
Where ThisClose!!
I would just like to see an indictment of anybody.
Kinda would almost rather hear nothing until then.
But I guess justice winds slowly.
By the time all of this tick tock is released it will be yesterday’s news.
And yet Burr wants to bring in Trump Jr to talk about that meeting. Here we have Brennan telling a bold face lie- yet Burr doesn’t want to interrogate him.
I think that they need to expose all of the people who spied. Using the GPS dossier was the least of their crimes.
Lindsay is bringing these facts out in bite-size pieces that ordinary people can understand, so they can keep demanding answers from their elected reps who would otherwise prefer to sweep it all under the rug.
Declas..........................everything..................ASAP............
They are pulling the rug.......................
Until stories are accompanied by photos of coup members hauled away in handcuffs, they actually hurt our cause. Why, some my ask. That's because the traitors are given warning and find a way to get out of any accountability. The longer they roam free and spit in our faces, the less likely it is that the coup will be completely thwarted.
Ask FBI Director Wray.
If their surveillance was legal and within the scope of their charter I can understand how they don't want their methods and sources revealed.
The question is did these foreign governments step outside the bounds of what is legal.
If they did should President Trump release the information and expose and embarrass these foreign governments?
If he did what kind of long term riff would it cause between our governments?
Retaliation could be brutal.
Burr doesn’t want to do anything that might upset Mark Warner, even though Warner is in the minority on his committee and Burr is theoretically the Chairman. I wonder why? Haven’t heard Burr say anything to indicate his Committee is investigating official malfeasance in this matter by the CIA or FBI and THIS is the INTELLIGENCE committee. Why is this all being left up to Grassley’s Senate Judiciary Committee and a few minority Republicans in the House like Meadows and Nunes??
The reason is probably a little bit of both.
Illegal and embarrassing...............
The Dossier was transported across state and international borders...its a federal crime.
Okay. When the hell will they be released?
Someone needs to start hammering that the people that are obstructing the investigation must be involved in the crimes
Burr is a Bush League Republican, anxious to get rid of President Trump and get back to business as usual, selling out the citizens and importing cheap labor for his donors.
Which is why the “classified docs” will never see the light of day.
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