54. Katie Leach, “ ‘White House Is Running This’ Mystery Has Top Republican Squeezing DOJ to Unredact Strzok-Page Texts,” Washington Examiner, May 23, 2018.
55. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr,” August 28, 2018, https://www.scribd.com/document/401389538/Ohr-Interview-Transcript-8-28-18#from_embed.
56. Ibid.
57. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Minority, memorandum re “Correcting the Record—The Russia Investigations,” Unclassified, January 29, 2018 (released to the public on February 24, 2018), https://fas.org/irp/congress/2018_cr/hpsci-dem-memo.pdf, 3.
58. Brooke Singman, “Nellie Ohr, Wife of DOJ Official, Did Extensive Oppo Research on Trump Family, Aides: Transcript,” Fox News, March 28, 2019.
59. Chuck Ross, “Nellie Ohr Researched Trump’s Kids For Fusion GPS,” The Daily Caller, January 30, 2019.
60. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, “Interview of: Nellie Ohr,” October 19, 2018, https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/10.19.18%20Nellie%20Ohr%20Interview.pdf?utm_source=Collins+Judiciary+Press+List&utm_campaign=10bc31267f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_03_28_01_14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ff92df788e-10bc31267f-168882913; Chuck Ross, “Nellie Ohr: ‘I Favored Hillary Clinton,’ ” Daily Caller, March 28, 2019.
61. Jeremy Herb, “Fusion GPS Contractor Nellie Ohr Doesn’t Say Much at House Interview,” CNN, October 19, 2018.
62. “Criminal Referral from Rep. Mark Meadows Asking Justice Department to Investigate Whether Nellie Orr Provided False Testimony,” May 1, 2019, https://www.scribd.com/document/408347748/Final-Criminal-Referral-Nellie-Ohr-5-1-19; Daniel Chaitin and Jerry Dunleavy, “Mark Meadows Sends Criminal Referral Targeting Nellie Ohr to DOJ,” Washington Examiner, May 1, 2019.
63. John Solomon, “Nellie Ohr’s ‘Hi Honey’ Emails to DOJ About Russia Collusion Should Alarm Us All,” The Hill, May 1, 2019.
64. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr.”
65. “FBI Records Show Dossier Author Deemed ‘Not Suitable for Use’ as Source, Show Several FBI Payments in 2016,” Judicial Watch (documents obtained pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch), August 3, 2018; Tom Winter, “FBI Releases Documents Showing Payments to Trump Dossier Author Steele,” NBC News, August 3, 2018.
66. Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, and Nicholas Fandos, “Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation,” New York Times, May 16, 2018.
67. Laura Jarrett and Evan Perez, “FBI Agent Dismissed from Mueller Probe Changed Comey’s Description of Clinton to ‘Extremely Careless,’ ” CNN, December 4, 2017.
68. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr,” 39, available at https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/Ohr%20Interview%20Transcript%208.28.18.pdf.
69. Ibid., 93.
70. Ibid., 30–31.
71. Ibid., 125.
72. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Majority Members, memorandum re “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Abuses at the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” January 18, 2018 (declassified by order of the president, February 2, 2018), https://perry.house.gov/uploadedfiles/memo_and_white_house_letter.pdf, 3.
73. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr,” p. 22.
74. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Minority, memorandum re “Correcting the Record—The Russia Investigations,” 7.
75. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr,” 79.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid, p. 125. See also Gregg Jarrett, “Mueller’s Team Knew ‘Dossier’ Kicking Off Trump Investigation Was Biased and Defective,” Fox News, January 17, 2019.
78. Luke Rosiak, “DOJ Official Bruce Ohr Hid Wife’s Fusion GPS Payments from Ethics Officials,” Daily Caller, February 14, 2018.
79. United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 1001, “Statements or Entries Generally.”
80. United States Code, 18 U.S.C. § 201(b); 18 U.S.C. § 201(c); 18 U.S.C. § 1346.
81. Alex Pappas, “DOJ Official Bruce Ohr Awarded $28G Bonus Amid Russia Probe, Records Indicate,” Fox News, June 7, 2019.
82. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr.”
83. “FBI Records Show Dossier Author Deemed ‘Not Suitable for Use’ as Source, Show Several FBI Payments in 2016.”
84. Ibid.; Rowan Scarborough, “Christopher Steele Broke FBI Media Rules After Being ‘Admonished,’ Documents Show,” Washington Times, August 4, 2018.
85. Executive Session, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Glenn Simpson,” November 14, 2017, https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/20180118/106796/HMTG-115-IG00-20180118-SD002.pdf, 78.
86. Kelly Cohen, “GPS Founder Glenn Simpson Pleads the Fifth Before House Committees,” Washington Examiner, October 16, 2018.
87. Senator Charles Grassley, letter to Senator Richard Blumenthal, December 3, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-12-03%20CEG%20to%20Blumenthal%20-%20Trump%20Jr%20and%20Cohen.pdf; Rowan Scarborough, “Why Key Architect of the Anti-Trump Dossier Is Now Accused of Lying to Congress,” Washington Times, Mary 31, 2018; Lee Smith, “Did Glenn Simpson Lie to Congress?,” Tablet, January 12, 2018.
88. Charles E. Grassley and Lindsey O. Graham, memorandum to Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Department of Justice, and Christopher A. Wray, Federal Bureau of Investigation, re “Referral of Christopher Steele for Potential Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001,” January 4, 2018, https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-02-02%20CEG%20LG%20to%20DOJ%20FBI%20(Unclassified%20Steele%20Referral).pdf. See also Chuck Grassley, “Senators Grassley, Graham Refer Christopher Steele for Criminal Investigation,” January 5, 2018, https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/senators-grassley-graham-refer-christopher-steele-criminal-investigation.
89. Email exchange between Bruce Ohr and Christopher Steele, September 21, 2016; Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: Bruce Ohr.”
90. Matt Apuzzo, Michael S. Schmidt, Adam Goldmand, and Eric Lichtblau, “Comey Tried to Shield the FBI from Politics. Then He Shaped the Election,” New York Times, April 22, 2017; Nick Giampia, “FBI Offered Christopher Steele $50K to Confirm Trump Dossier: Judge Napolitano,” Fox Business, December 18, 2017.
91. Jonathan Winer, “Devin Nunes Is Investigating Me. Here’s the Truth,” Washington Post, February 8, 2018.
92. Caitlin Yilek, “Ex–Obama Official Confirms Trump Dossier Was Given to State Department,” Washington Examiner, February 9, 2018.
93. Winer, “Devin Nunes Is Investigating Me,”; Eric Felton, “The Weird Tales of Jonathan Winer,” The Weekly Standard, February 10, 2018.
94. Chuck Ross, “Here’s How the Steele Dossier Spread Through the Media and Government,” Daily Caller, March 18, 2019.
95. Mark Hemingway, “The Other Secret Dossier,” The Weekly Standard, February 6, 2018. In his story, Hemingway recounts how Clinton aide Sidney Blumental, together with Shearer, ran a “secret spy network” funneling information to Clinton. At the same time, according to Hemingway, they were “trying to leverage their connections to Clinton . . . to get a lucrative contra
ct in Libya.” (See also Slate article on Shearer: A.O. Scott, “Cody Shearer: If He Didn’t Exist, The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy Would Have Invented Him,” Slate, May 22, 1999, available at https://slate.com/news-and-politics/1999/05/cody-shearer.html). According to Hemingway, Shearer was also “at the center of the Democrats 1996 fundraising scandal” and the accusations by Kathleen Willey against Bill Clinton. For a digest of Clinton “scandals,” see Carrie Johnson, “Clinton Scandals: A Guide From Whitewater To The Clinton Foundation,” NPR, June 21, 2016, and “A Brief Guide To Clinton Scandals From Travelgate To Emailgate,” Washington Examiner Staff, May 17, 2016.
96. Ibid.
97. Jeff Carlson, “Baker Testimony Reveals Perkins Coie Lawyer Provided FBI with Information on Alfa Bank Allegations,” The Epoch Times, March 8, 2019.
98. Chuck Ross, “Here’s How the Steele Dossier Spread Through the Media and Government,” Daily Caller, March 18, 2019; Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: James Baker,” October 3, 2018, https://dougcollins.house.gov/sites/dougcollins.house.gov/files/BakerRedacted.pdf?utm_source=Collins+Judiciary+Press+List&utm_campaign=2c66dbe45c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_04_08_07_36&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ff92df788e-2c66dbe45c-169041485, 44–53.
99. Michael Isikoff, “U.S. Intel Officials Probe Ties Between Trump Adviser and Kremlin,” Yahoo! News, September 23, 2016.
100. Ibid.
101. “Hillary for America Statement on Bombshell Report About Trump Aide’s Chilling Ties to Kremlin,” Milwaukee Courier, September 24, 2016.
102. David Corn, “A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump,” Mother Jones, October 31, 2016.
103. Ibid.
104. Ibid.
105. Ibid.
106. Executive Session, Committee on the Judiciary, Joint with the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U.S. House of Representatives, “Interview of: James Baker,” 37–42.
107. Ibid., 36, 43.
108. Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump (New York: Twelve, 2018).
109. Steven Lee Meyers, “Was the 2016 Election a Game of Russian Roulette?,” New York Times, March 14, 2018.
110. William Cummings, “Reporter Who Broke Steele Dossier Story Says Ex–British Agent’s Claims ‘Likely False,’ ” USA Today, December 18, 2018.
111. Ibid.
112. William Barr, Attorney General, letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, March 24, 2019, https://eshoo.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Letter-From-AG-Barr-To-Congress.pdf.
113. Luke Harding, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, and Nick Hopkins, “British Spies Were First to Spot Trump Team’s Links with Russia,” The Guardian, April 13, 2017.
114. Ibid.
115. Jonathan Landay, “CIA Unveils New Rules for Collecting Information on Americans,” Reuters, January 18, 2017.
116. “Testimony of CIA Director John Brennan Before the House Intelligence Committee,” CNN, May 23, 2017.
117. Eric Lichtblau, “CIA Had Evidence of Russia Effort to Help Trump Earlier than Believed,” New York Times, April 6, 2017.
118. Ibid.
119. Victor Davis Hanson, “John Brennan’s Dishonesty: A Long Record,” National Review, June 4, 2018.
120. “Spying on Trump: Was Obama Behind CIA, FBI Plan to Elect Hillary?,” Investor’s Business Daily, May 22, 2018.
121. Paul Sperry, “Exclusive: CIA Ex-Director Brennan’s Perjury Peril,” RealClearInvestigations, February 11, 2018.
122. Senator Harry Reid, letter to FBI Director James Comey, August 27, 2016, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3035844-Reid-Letter-to-Comey.html.
123. David E. Sanger, “Harry Reid Cites Evidence of Russian Tampering in U.S. Vote, and Seeks FBI Inquiry,” New York Times, August 29, 2016.
124. Josh Rogan, “Democrats Ask the FBI to Investigate Trump Advisers’ Russia Ties,” Washington Post, August 30, 2016.
125. Senator Harry Reid, letter to FBI Director James Comey, October 30, 2016, available at https://archive.org/details/20161030ReidLetterToComeyexplosiveInformation.
126. Aaron Blake, “Harry Reid’s Incendiary Claim About ‘Coordination’ Between Donald Trump and Russia,” Washington Post, October 31, 2016.
127. Rowan Scarborough, “Harry Reid Sent Sensitive Trump Collusion Letter over CIA Objections,” Washington Times, May 12, 2018.
128. John Brandt, “Reid Repeats Rumor on Senate Floor That Romney Paid No Taxes, Campaign Denies,” Fox News, August 2, 2012; Louis Jacobson, “Harry Reid Says Anonymous Source Told Him Mitt Romney Didn’t Pay Taxes for 10 Years,” PolitiFact, August 6, 2012; Glenn Kessler, “4 Pinocchios for Harry Reid’s Claim About Mitt Romney’s Taxes,” Washington Post Fact Checker, August 7, 2012; Ashley Condianni, “Harry Reid Doesn’t Regret Accusing Mitt Romney of Not Paying Taxes,” CNN, March 31, 2015.
129. Hanson, “John Brennan’s Dishonesty”; Becket Adams, “John Brennan, Famous for Lying and Spying on the Senate, Baselessly Accuses Trump of Treason,” Washington Examiner, July 17, 2018; “Ex-CIA Chief Brennan’s Security Clearance Should Have Been Revoked Long Ago,” Investor’s Business Daily, August 17, 2018.
130. Daniel Chaitin, “Trump Never Revoked John Brennan’s Security Clearance,” Washington Examiner, May 25, 2019.
131. Julian E. Zelizer, “Was McCain’s Campaign the Worst Ever?,” Newsweek, November 4, 2008.
132. Jonathan Martin and Alan Rappeport, “Donald Trump Says John McCain Is No War Hero, Setting Off Another Storm,” New York Times, July 18, 2015.
133. Brent D. Griffiths, “McCain: Trump Never Apologized for Saying I Wasn’t a War Hero,” The Hill, September 24, 2017.
134. United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, deposition of David Kramer, Gubarev v. BuzzFeed, December 13, 2017, https://www.scribd.com/document/401932342/Kramer-Depositioin#from_embed?campaign=VigLink&ad_group=xxc1xx&source=hp_affiliate&medium=affiliate.
135. Jerry Dunleavy and Daniel Chaitin, “John McCain Associate Behind Dossier Leak Urged BuzzFeed to Retract Its Story: ‘You Are Gonna Get People Killed!,’ ” Washington Examiner, March 14, 2019.
136. John Haltiwanger, “John McCain Described How He Received the Steele Dossier That Contains the Most Salacious Allegations About Trump and Russia,” Business Insider, March 22, 2019.
137. Chuck Ross, “John McCain Associate Had Contact with a Dozen Reporters Regarding Steele Dossier,” Daily Caller, March 14, 2019.
138. United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, deposition of David Kramer.
139. Ibid.
140. Joe Pompeo, “ ‘The Broad Outline of What Steele Was Writing Is Unquestionably True’: BuzzFeed Wins Its Dossier Suit, and Ben Smith Takes a Victory Lap,” Vanity Fair, December 20, 2018.
141. Andrew O’Hehir, “James Clapper on Donald Trump, Edward Snowden, Torture and ‘The Knowability of Truth,’ ” Salon, May 26, 2018.
142. Ibid.
143. Ibid.; John Bowden, “Clapper: ‘More and More’ of Steele Dossier Proving to Be True,” The Hill, May 26, 2018.
144. Paul Sperry, “Two Colleagues Contradict Brennan’s Denial of Reliance on Dossier,” RealClearInvestigations, May 15, 2018; Paul Sperry, “Exclusive: CIA Ex-Director Brennan’s Perjury Peril,” RealClearInvestigations, February 11, 2018; Natasha Bertrand, “Former CIA Director: I Was Concerned About ‘Interactions’ Between Russians and the Trump Campaign,” Business Insider, May 23, 2017.
145. Sperry, “Exclusive: CIA Ex-Director Brennan’s Perjury Peril.”
146. Ibid.
147. Jack Shafer, “The Spies Who Came In to the TV Studio,” Politico, February 6, 2018.
148. Bill Hoffman, “Ex–CIA Chief Brennan Headed to NBC/MSNBC,” Newsmax, February 2, 2018.
149. Jonathan Easley, “D Report: Clapp
er Told CNN Host About Trump Dossier in 2017,” The Hill, April 27, 2018.
150. Sean Davis, “Declassified Congressional Report: James Clapper Lied About Dossier Leaks to CNN,” The Federalist, April 27, 2018. (Note: The Washington Post “fact checker” Glenn Kessler wrote a column on May 3, 2018, claiming that his newspaper’s reporters were correct in stating that Clapper’s leak was in May 2017, not January. That attempt by Kessler and the Washington Post to exonerate Clapper is demonstrably erroneous. Clapper told the Intelligence Committee that he had leaked the “dossier” information to CNN host Jake Tapper “pretty close to when we briefed it.” President Obama was briefed on January 5, 2017. President-elect Trump was briefed the next day. Therefore, Clapper’s leak to CNN occurred in early January, not May as alleged by the Washington Post and Kessler. For an accurate account of this, see Sean Davis, “Washington Post ‘Fact Check’ on James Clapper’s Leaks Ignores Basic Facts,” The Federalist, May 3, 2018.)
151. Rowan Scarborough, “Obama DNI Clapper Leaked Dossier Story on Trump: House Intel Report,” Washington Times, April 28, 2018.
152. Marshall Cohen and Jeremy Herb, “Revisiting the Trump-Russia Dossier: What’s Right, Wrong and Still Unclear?,” CNN, January 7, 2019.
153. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Background to ‘Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent U.S. Elections’: The Analytic Process and Cyber Incident Attribution,” January 6, 2017, https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICA_2017_01.pdf.
154. Scott Shane, “Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too,” New York Times, February 17, 2018.
155. Michael S. Schmidt, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo, “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts with Russian Intelligence,” New York Times, February 14, 2017.
156. Bob Woodward, Fear: Trump in the White House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018), 84.
157. Ibid. See also Senate Intelligence Committee, Testimony of James Comey, June 8, 2017, “Full Transcript and Video: James Comey’s Testimony on Capitol Hill,” the New York Times, June 8, 2017.
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