House Republicans investigating Department of Justice employee Bruce Ohr for his role in FBI obtaining the Trump-Russia dossier would like to see him fired, but aides close to the lawmakers’ thinking say they are are split as to whether President Trump should take action before Ohr testifies publicly.
Trump stoked concerns that he will pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire Ohr Wednesday.
Ohr, formerly the associate deputy attorney general, provided hours of testimony Tuesday behind closed doors to a joint meeting of the Judiciary and Oversight committees. Republicans are targeting him because of his ties to British spy Christopher Steele, who was contracted by Fusion GPS to do opposition research on then-presidential candidate Trump. Steele is the author of famous Trump-Russia dossier, which contained unverified information about the president.
[More: Republicans find conflicts in Bruce Ohr’s closed-door testimony]
Ohr was demoted after lawmakers discovered he met with Steele and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, was contracted by Fusion GPS to investigate Trump. Ohr has not been fired from the department and still has a role working on the Organized Crime Task Force.
Trump increased pressure on Ohr and DOJ leadership Wednesday by asking why Ohr is still employed at the agency. Trump has also threatened to revoke Ohr’s security clearance, which the president has yet to do, but the move would effectively make Ohr unable to perform his role.
The White House did not respond to multiple request for comment as to what the president plans to do about Ohr.
Three GOP House aides told the Washington Examiner Wednesday that firing Ohr should undoubtedly be fired, but that his removal from the DOJ before he testifies publicly could hurt lawmakers’ chances of obtaining relevant information from him.
“From the information we’ve seen, there’s no question Bruce Ohr deserves to be fired,” one GOP aide said. “And yet at the same time, getting relevant information from him would be complicated if he was at the DOJ, yes.”
Not everyone close to the committees believes that if Trump moved to pressure Ohr’s ousting or revoked his clearance that it would necessarily hurt lawmakers’ investigation. One aide close to House Freedom Caucus co-founder Jim Jordan noted that former FBI counsel Lisa Page no longer worked at the agency when she testified before House lawmakers in June, but that lawmakers were able to obtain pertinent information to their probe.
The aide close to Jordan told the Washington Examiner that the committee is looking to bring Simpson before the committee next in order to ascertain whether Ohr or Simpson was lying to lawmakers about the timing of their contact.
Thus far, House lawmakers who questioned Ohr Tuesday have yet to claim outright that Simpson is the next target.
After leaving Ohr’s private hearing Tuesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said, based on the discrepancies in Ohr’s and Simpson’s testimonies, that it is important to bring both before the Judiciary Committee to sort out the details.
“Either Bruce Ohr’s lying or Glenn Simpson’s lying,” Gaetz told reporters.
Jordan told Fox News that the conflict between both testimonies “underscores why we need Glenn Simpson back in front of the Judiciary Committee.”
