Share

Trump-Hater Lindsey Graham Makes Shock Admission About Dossier

Share

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, are seeking an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey for the role he may have played in using the Russian dossier to set up President-elect Donald Trump.

In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the senators specifically call for an investigation into a briefing Comey gave Trump in January 2017, days before he took office, during which the then-FBI director told the incoming president about the contents of the unverified dossier, The Washington Times reported.

The briefing was then leaked to the media and first reported by CNN. Buzzfeed quickly followed, posting the dossier in its entirety, which CNN linked to in its coverage.

“There is a question as to whether the FBI included the dossier in the briefing, and possibly leaked that it had done so, in order to provide the media a pretext to report on the dossier,” Graham and Grassley wrote in their letter to Horowitz.

The Graham-Grassley letter also raised the issue of testimony Comey offered in a private interview before the committee being contradicted by information the FBI provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the fall of 2016 to gain authority to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Trending:
Hillary Clinton Jumps Into Trump 'Bloodbath' Frenzy with a Question, Doesn't Want to Hear the Answers

The testimony apparently involved the importance the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton campaign funded dossier played in the FISA court application.

“Did Director Comey intentionally mislead the committee?” the senators asked the inspector general.

“Did anyone express any concerns about the propriety of presenting unverified, uncorroborated claims from the Steele dossier as the basis for a FISA warrant on an American citizen?” Graham and Grassley also wondered.

The two lawmakers — along with Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., — in a separate letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein last week called for a second special counsel to be established to look into the FBI’s use of the dossier to obtain FISA warrants to surveil Page.

Do you think Comey was involved in a scheme to bring down Trump?

“The reason we want a special counsel is we believe crimes may have been committed,” Graham told Fox News late last week.


The letter also requested Horowitz’s office investigate the FBI’s relationship between the dossier’s author former British spy Christopher Steele and the high-ranking DOJ official Bruce Ohr.

After the FBI discovered Steele was leaking information to the media, the Bureau officially cut ties with the informant; however, Ohr’s wife Nellie worked at Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele. Bruce Ohr reportedly remained a conduit between Steele and the FBI.

“Was anyone in the Justice Department, including senior leadership, aware that Mr. Ohr continued to pass information from Steele and Fusion GPS to the FBI even after Steele was suspended, and terminated, as a source?” the letter asked.

Related:
Hillary Clinton Jumps Into Trump 'Bloodbath' Frenzy with a Question, Doesn't Want to Hear the Answers

The four senators further noted in their letter to the DOJ the need for a second special counsel due to the inspector general’s office not being able to call key witnesses who do not work within the department.

In an Op-Ed earlier this year, Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York accused the Obama administration of using the levers of government to purposely “entangle the new (Trump) administration in a criminal investigation as soon as it walked in the door of the White House.”

He argued it did so by using the antiquated Logan Act of 1799 as a pretext for the DOJ to launch its investigation into the Trump incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn based on phone conversations he had with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition.

The Logan Act prevents private citizens from functioning as representatives of the U.S. to foreign governments. It has rarely been invoked and never in relation to transition officials speaking to foreign officials, which is commonplace.

Portions of the Flynn-Kislyak conversations were leaked to media to build the Russia narrative, York argued.

The proof is in the pudding, according to the columnist.

“(W)hen it finally came time to charge Flynn with a crime, did prosecutors, armed with the transcripts of those Flynn-Kislyak conversations, choose to charge him with violating the Logan Act? Of course not,” York wrote. “But for the Obama team, the law had already served its purpose…to entangle the new administration in a criminal investigation as soon as it walked in the door of the White House.”

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Share
Randy DeSoto has written more than 2,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."
Randy DeSoto is the senior staff writer for The Western Journal. He wrote and was the assistant producer of the documentary film "I Want Your Money" about the perils of Big Government, comparing the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Randy is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths," which addresses how leaders have appealed to beliefs found in the Declaration of Independence at defining moments in our nation's history. He has been published in several political sites and newspapers.

Randy graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in political science and Regent University School of Law with a juris doctorate.
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean's list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith




Conversation