Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said he has seen the scope memo for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee’s top Republican slipped the news in at the end of an interview Wednesday evening with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“I was finally able to see the scope memo,” he said. “And remember, I had these concerns that it was based upon the Steele dossier.”
The California congressman said he could not talk about what is in the memo, but noted that Mueller’s report was “probably, largely based on” British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s unverified dossier on President Trump’s ties to Russia.
The Justice Department and House Intelligence Committee struck a deal last month for access to underlying material to Mueller’s investigation. Nunes has been heavily critical of Mueller, calling his report a “shoddy political hit piece” during a hearing Wednesday.
Allies of Trump, including Nunes, have called for full disclosure of that memo, to see “what Robert Mueller was supposed to be looking at” and documents related to investigatory efforts looking into Trump’s inner circle, including FISA warrants that targeted onetime campaign aide Carter Page.
Steele was hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself being paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm. GOP investigators have raised concerns about the FBI’s use of the dossier to obtain the FISA warrants against Page.
The classified scope memorandum was issued by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in August 2017, months after he appointed Mueller to lead the Russia investigation without citing a crime. A heavily redacted version of the August memo has already been released to the public.
Mueller completed his 22-month investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election in March. His report, released by the Justice Department with redactions in April, shows Mueller’s team was unable to establish criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Mueller outlined 10 instances of possible obstruction in his report but declined to make a determination about whether the president should be charged with obstructing justice.
Although Trump says he has been vindicated, Democrats argue Mueller’s refusal to clear Trump on obstruction provides them a road map to continue to investigate and possibly seek impeachment. Attorney General William Barr said he and Rosenstein determined there was not sufficient evidence to establish a crime had occurred.
Barr is now overseeing a Justice Department review of the origins of the Russia investigation led by U.S. Attorney John Durham. Barr says he is also working closely with DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz who is conducting an investigation into possible FISA abuses.
