House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has scored a victory in his effort to uncover information about the FBI’s use of an informant who sought out suspicious ties between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russians.
While classified documents about that informant — Stefan Halper, an American academic — had originally been shared only with members of an exclusive group of congressional leaders, Nunes had pushed for expanded access to all members of the House and Senate Intelligence panels.
A letter sent Thursday by the Democratic members of the “Gang of Eight” reveals that those records have now been shared more broadly.
Addressed to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the Democrats say his decision to allow all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees access to the documents pose a national security risk.
“While we understand the need for congressional oversight, this action — which we understand was taken at your direction — contravenes your representation to us and our colleagues that this information would not be shared outside that group,” the letter says.
“All of the meeting’s attendees agreed that the information discussed was among the most sensitive type of information and should be protected accordingly. We believe your decision could put sources and methods at risk,” the letter adds. The letter was signed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va.; and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
The DNI’s office declined to comment about the letter.
According to a New York Times report, the White House made the call to expand access to the documents, defying warnings from Coats and FBI Director Chris Wray. The White House declined to comment to the Times.
Upon the publication of the Times report Thursday evening, Jerrold Nadler of New York, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said if the reporting was true the White House could be to blame for potentially risking the life of an FBI informant in order to protect [Trump] and, in the words of FBI Director Wray, would ‘make Americans less safe.'”
On the other side of the issue, Tom Fitton, who heads the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, tweeted that Trump ordered “transparency on Spygate abuses,” and added that the “Deep State objects.”
Starting in May, Republican and Democratic members of the Gang of Eight received two briefings by law enforcement and intelligence leaders about Halper’s contributions to the federal Russian investigation. Also present at one of the meetings was White House chief of staff John Kelly and White House lawyer Emmet Flood, which elicited backlash from Congress over concerns that a Trump administration officials were involved in a classified briefing on an investigation that related to Trump.
Upon the revelation of the FBI’s use of an informant, Trump and his allies alleged that a “spy” was improperly sent to scope out his campaign for political purposes.
However, Democrats maintained after the briefings that they were shown “no evidence” of a spy and failure to follow protocol, and the “spygate” talk largely subsided on the Republican side after Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, who was briefed on the Russia investigation along with the Gang of Eight, cast doubt on there being any wrongdoing on the part of the FBI.
Halper spoke with at least three Trump campaign officials, including, national co-chair Sam Clovis and fellow campaign advisers Carter Page and George Papadopoulos.
Nunes stepped up his effort this summer to secure documents on the informant and the genesis of the Russia investigation, demanding the DOJ provide them to all committee members “and designated staff” or be subject to “obstruction.”
After Nunes, along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Gowdy clashed with the DOJ for months in regards to documents they requested related to the FBI’s investigations into both Hillary Clinton’s private email and Russia, the GOP-led House further escalated the feud stemming from subpoenas issued from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees by passing a resolution late last month demanding that DOJ hand over the documents.
The deadline was last Friday, and in a letter to Goodlatte and Nunes that day, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said that the DOJ and FBI “believe that they have now substantially complied with” the sizable documents requests from the two panels. “[A]ny residual or ongoing production of the materials will be expeditiously completed in coordination with staff members from the appropriate committees,” wrote Boyd.
One day after that deadline, Nunes told Fox News the Justice Department still had “a few more outstanding documents” to hand over to Congress and that he expected more records to be submitted Monday.
