A leading Republican investigator surmised that Robert Mueller was restrained from speaking about whether the Obama administration was influenced by the Russians because of an ongoing Justice Department investigation.
After the former special counsel testified about his Russia investigation Wednesday, Rep. John Ratcliffe told Fox News’ Bret Baier that British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier was off-limits because U.S. Attorney John Durham and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz are looking into how it was used by federal agents.
“What we don’t know, what he didn’t answer today was whether or not that’s sweeping and systematic effort influenced the Obama administration,” the Texas congressman said. “Did they use a false dossier to surveil an American citizen and thereby influence the election? That was something that Bob Mueller wasn’t willing to address today and I think John Durham and the folks at the Justice Department will be looking into that.”
Baier asked Ratcliffe what his expectation for a timeline regarding Horowitz’s investigation on alleged surveillance abuses by the Justice Department and FBI and Durham’s inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation. The congressman, who is on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees and has spoken to Horowitz, said progress is being made.
“I think that we will get the IG’s report probably sometime right after Labor Day. I think John Durham just got started, but I think there’s a lot to look at there. I think there’s a lot that you saw the special counsel wouldn’t answer today because it was in the purview and under the investigation of John Durham as the new special counsel,” he said.
Labor Day is Sept. 2 this year.
Durham was tasked by Attorney General William Barr, who said he is working closely with Horowitz, to lead a review of the origins of the Russia investigation. Trump also gave Barr “full and complete authority to declassify information” in the Justice Department inquiry.
In his opening statements to the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on Wednesday, Mueller said he would not speak about the Steele dossier in his testimony, nor about the FBI’s opening of the Russia investigation that preceded his appointment, citing his consultation with the Justice Department about restrictions. At one point, Rep. Matt Gaetz grilled Mueller about Steele’s dossier, which contained salacious and unverified claims about Trump’s ties to Russia. He also asked about Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele, but the former FBI director dodged by repeatedly asserting it was beyond his purview.
The FBI says the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign began July 2016 after Australian diplomat Alexander Downer told the U.S. that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos claimed the Russians had some sort of incriminating evidence against Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 presidential rival. This effort was later wrapped into Mueller’s investigation.
In spite of this, Trump and congressional Republicans have cited the dossier as evidence that the genesis of the FBI’s original investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election was possibly based on the compromising material from Steele. They have also raised concerned about how the FBI relied on the dossier to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants to gather information on former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page between October 2016 and June 2017. The dossier was funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign was not revealed to the FISA Court.
Mueller, who was appointed to take over the investigation after the president fired ex-FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, testified that he was not involved in the approval chain for the final FISA renewal.
