Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Wednesday that he plans to make criminal referrals as part of an investigation into alleged political bias in the FBI.
During an interview on Fox News, Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said even though he is no longer chairman and Democrats have taken control of the lower chamber and the panel, that won’t stop GOP investigators from making headway.
“A lot of people think just because Republicans are out of power that we are not conducting an investigation. We still are,” Nunes said. “Whether or not people will come in and interview with us, we don’t have gavels, we don’t have subpoena power. But we will still be trying to interview people and we will still be making criminal referrals.”
Nunes didn’t name anyone, but Tucker Carlson floated former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI Director James Comey.
One person who has already been criminally referred to the Justice Department was Christopher Steele, the author of the controversial Trump dossier. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the last session of Congress, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is the now chairman, referred Steele in January 2018 on the suspicion that he made false statements to federal authorities about the distribution of the dossier, which contained unverified claims about President Trump’s ties to Russia.
According to a memo on alleged FISA abuse released by Nunes and his then-GOP majority in the intelligence panel last year, the dossier was used by the FBI to help obtain the authority to spy on onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page, but key information, including its author’s anti-Trump bias and Democratic benefactors, was left out.
Nunes said Wednesday that to this day Congress has not heard any updates from the DOJ on the Steele referral. He also said he thinks it will take a new attorney general to come in and “clean” up before any real progress can be made and for the American people to start regaining “confidence in what’s happening.”
Trump’s attorney general nominee William Barr is expected to be confirmed next week.
