Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) has launched a parallel investigation into corruption by Obama Justice Department and FBI officials during the election against the Trump campaign, according to reports.
Nunes revealed the existence of the investigation to Fox News’s Catherine Herridge on December 8, although Politico claimed in a report on Wednesday that the investigation had been going on “secretly for weeks.”
The group of lawmakers who are part of the probe hope to release a final report of their findings, and may seek congressional votes to declassify evidence they have gathered.
The probe will investigate whether the Obama administration used a salacious and unverified Trump dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign to launch an investigation into the Trump campaign and get a spy warrant on a campaign member.
Republicans suspect the Obama Justice Department did just that. The probe is relying on documents and testimony provided by former acting attorney general Sally Yates, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, according to Politico.
Nunes also plans to subpoena senior FBI officials connected to the Trump dossier, including Bruce Ohr — who met with the dossier author Christopher Steele during the 2016 campaign, and shortly after with the co-founder of the firm behind the dossier, Fusion GPS. He was demoted earlier this month because of those meetings, and his wife, Nellie Ohr, was found to have worked for Fusion GPS throughout the campaign.
“I hate to use the word corrupt, but they’ve become at least so dirty that who’s watching the watchmen? Who’s investigating these people?” Nunes told Fox News. “There is no one.”
Democrats argue that any investigation other than looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia is a distraction — while ignoring all evidence that the Obama Justice Department may have launched a politically motivated investigation against Trump.
They point to the charges found against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and low-level campaign adviser George Papadopoulos — without mentioning that none of the charges had to do with collusion.
They claim that the more “dangerous” Mueller’s probe has become to the White House, the “louder” Trump allies are getting.
But they are also giving scant attention to growing evidence of bias, including a slew of anti-Trump text messages by senior FBI official Peter Strzok that suggest senior FBI officials — all the way up to deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe — discussed the “risk” of Trump’s election.
Strzok was also the same FBI official that managed the Clinton email investigation, and watered down language that exonerated her.
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