The House Intelligence Committee is expanding the scope of its investigation into the Trump dossier.
A 10-question survey that already had been issued to 20 current and former government officials, was also sent to two officials from former Vice President Joe Biden’s office, according to reports Friday.
Shailagh Murray, who also served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama, was sent the questionnaire, a source told Fox News. Murray’s husband, Neil King Jr., left the Wall Street Journal in late 2016 and migrated to Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the dossier.
The second official to be sent the survey is Colin Kahl, who worked as a national security adviser to Biden. Previously, Kahl served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.
The deadline for them to respond is March 19.
Under the direction of Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the House Intelligence Committee has sought to uncover wrongdoing by top Justice Department and FBI officials.
Nunes had previously revealed that the survey had been sent out a couple weeks ago to top Obama and Trump administration officials. The questions seek answers about what these individuals knew and when they knew it about the dossier, which contains unverified claims about President Trump’s potentially compromising ties to Russia, and its author, ex-British spy Christopher Steele. The questionnaire also asks when these individuals about when they learned that the dossier was financed in part by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, with whom they may have shared that information, and when Obama was made aware of the claims made in the dossier.
Former government officials said to have been sent the questionnaire previously include ex-FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Nunes said on Wednesday that there are still some top Obama and Trump administration officials who hadn’t yet answered the questionnaire in an interview on Fox Business. He said the panel got back “quite a few” responses, adding that the committee also got a few extension requests that were granted and there are a few individuals who never replied.
“If they don’t respond by the end of this week, then they will be getting subpoenaed to do a deposition,” Nunes said.
Last month, the Republicans on the panel, succeeded in seeing a memo on alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses released to the public with Trump’s blessing. The memo claims Steele played an important role in the initial FISA application and all three renewal FISA applications to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
The Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee put together their own memo, meant as a rebuttal, which has also been released, albeit with redactions.
