The leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee said the FBI should have investigated British ex-spy Christopher Steele and the opposition research firm who hired him following revelations that the bureau knew about concerns his dossier contained Russian disinformation.
Rep. Devin Nunes made the comments on Sebastian Gorka’s America First podcast on Monday after declassified footnotes from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December report on the FBI’s Russia investigation were made public on Friday.
“There were concerns at the FBI that this could be Russian disinformation,” Nunes said. “Now look, let’s talk reality here. Ninety-eight percent of this was just made up by the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, and other dirty actors. … However, you did have people at the FBI who raised these concerns that this could be Russian disinformation.”
The California Republican said this was in “early 2017” and “well before” special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May of that year.
“We know they were all phony and fake Russians, but you also have this potential lead that these phony and fake Russians could be disinformation from Russians at the time time,” Nunes said. “So, where’s the investigation? Where was the investigation of Christopher Steele? Of Fusion GPS — the Clinton campaign’s racketeering outfit that loves to slander and defame people and cause them lots of harm? Where was the FBI to look into these guys and to look into whether this was Russian disinformation?”
Horowitz’s lengthy report criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants against Trump campaign associate Carter Page and for the bureau’s reliance on Steele’s unverified dossier. Steele put his research together at the behest of Fusion GPS, funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.
Declassified footnotes released Friday showed the Crossfire Hurricane team were briefed on a document, which assessed that an individual dubbed “Person 1” — a “key Steele sub-source” — was someone with “historical contact with persons and entities suspected of being linked to RIS” — Russian Intelligence Services. The document reported that Person 1 “was rumored to be a former KGB/SVR officer.” Further, the declassified footnote shows in late December 2016, DOJ official Bruce Ohr told “SSA 1,” believed to be FBI agent Joseph Pientka, that he had met with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who assessed that Person 1 was a “RIS officer” central in connecting Trump to Russia.
The newly public information also shows FBI investigators received information in 2017 “indicating the potential for Russian disinformation influencing Steele’s election reporting” seemingly related to the biggest salacious and unverified claims in Steele’s dossier: Trump fooling around with prostitutes in Moscow during the Miss Universe Pageant in 2013 and about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen meeting with Russians in Prague in 2016.
Robby Mook, Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, said in 2017 that he authorized Marc Elias, who heads Perkins Coie’s political law group and was the general counsel for Clinton, to hire an outside firm to dig up dirt on Trump’s connections with Russia in 2016.
Mook said Elias was receiving information from Fusion GPS about the research into Trump and Russia in 2016 and Elias periodically briefed the Clinton campaign. “I’m proud that we were able to assemble some of the research that has brought this to light,” Mook said.
The FBI told Steele in October 2016 it was looking into Page as well as Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos, future Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, and Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Steele passed along at least some of this to Fusion GPS.
Perkins Coie was paid more than $12 million between 2016 and 2017 for representing Clinton and the DNC. According to Simpson, Fusion GPS was paid $50,000 per month from Perkins Coie, and Fusion GPS paid Steele roughly $168,000.
Brian Fallon, the former national press secretary for the Clinton campaign, praised Elias.
“I am damn glad he pursued this on behalf of our campaign and only regret more of this material was not verified in time for the voters to learn it before the election,” Fallon said in 2017.
Mueller’s 448-page report, released last April, found the Russians had interfered in the 2016 election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion” but “did not establish” any conspiracy between Trump and Russia.
Horowitz’s August report on former FBI Director James Comey’s mishandling of his memos explained how the January 2017 Trump Tower meeting between President-elect Trump, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, and Comey involved briefing Trump on their assessment on Russian interference. Horowitz also laid out details showing Comey’s one-on-one meeting with Trump wasn’t just about informing Trump of some of the more salacious allegations from Steele’s dossier, now known to be suspected Russian disinformation, but was treated by Comey and the FBI as a chance to gather information for their Trump-Russia investigation.
Attorney General William Barr initiated his investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators last year and picked U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead the endeavor. During a Fox News interview last week, Barr said, “If people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted.”
Nunes said he had faith in Barr and Durham to do a “thorough” investigation.
“I think you saw Attorney General Barr last week, and he was fairly clear. He said they’re looking to build evidence,” Nunes said.
“I was very encouraged by Barr saying that not only was he concerned by what happened in 2016 and them running this investigation, but, you know, how did this end up as a special counsel when they knew there were no Russians, it was all a bunch of nonsense, and if there were any Russians it was disinformation,” he added.
