Republican Senators seek criminal probe of Trump 'dossier' author

[rooster59]

Republican Senators seek criminal probe of Trump 'dossier' author

By Mark Hosenball

 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks with reporters ahead of the party luncheons on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. November 14, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two senior Republican U.S. Senators on Friday called for a criminal investigation into the former British spy who compiled a "dossier" in 2016 of allegations of financial and personal links between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, his advisers and Russia.

 

Senators Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, who respectively chair the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of its subcommittees, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in which they said former spy Christopher Steele made "false statements" about his sharing information in the dossier with U.S. media outlets.

 

Grassley and Graham are supporters of a campaign by President Trump and some Republicans to demonize Steele and his dossier and cast doubt over the credibility of official U.S. investigations, including one led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The probes are looking into allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to help Republican Trump. Moscow denies interference and Trump denies any collusion.

 

In the letter released by the senators, Grassley and Graham neither identify anyone to whom they believed Steele lied nor do they identify any news outlet. The letter makes reference to a "Top Secret" memo that they said relates to "certain communications between Christopher Steele and multiple U.S. news outlets" regarding the "dossier."

 

Steele had no immediate comment.

 

After Trump won the Republican nomination in July 2016, backers of Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton started financing Steele's work via Washington research firm Fusion GPS. The firm had also worked on "opposition research" for one of Trump's opponents in the Republican primary.

 

In an emailed comment, Joshua Levy, a lawyer for Fusion GPS, suggested that the senators' letter was an effort to undermine the special counsel's investigation.

 

"After a year of investigations into Donald Trump's ties to Russia, the only person Republicans seek to accuse of wrongdoing is one who reported on these matters to law enforcement in the first place," Levy said. "We should all be sceptical in the extreme."

 

Although several news organizations, including Reuters, were briefed on Steele’s dossier before the November 2016 election, most decided not to report on the material because its inflammatory and sometimes salacious content could not be verified.

 

Congressional panels, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, set out to investigate U.S. intelligence agency allegations that Russia conducted a campaign of hacking and disinformation to undermine U.S. democracy in the election, but some of the bipartisanship has eroded. Graham, Grassley and some other Republicans have used official resources to investigate the Steele dossier, Trump critics and officials working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mueller.

 

Two Trump campaign associates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and aide George Papadopoulos have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in Mueller's probe.

 

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, on Friday criticized the Republicans' letter.

 

"This action was taken without any bipartisan cooperation, or even consultation," Blumenthal said in a statement. "These vaguely stated, secret allegations seem designed more to distract attention from the priority issues for investigation, and discredit the FBI and other law enforcement."

 

The Democratic senator said it was "indisputable fact" that the probe of Russian meddling in the election and any possible Trump campaign role "was triggered by information completely independent from the dossier."

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-01-06

[goferman]

"Trump's puppet Republicans smear Pee-Tape revealer" would be a more telling and accurate headline. Christopher Steele has more credibility than Trump, Grassley and Graham together.

[zaphod reborn]

I can't see any theory under which the preparation of the dossier might be criminal.  I've heard stupid Trumpites claim perjury, but Steele never testified under oath.  Even if it contains lies that were intended to defame Trump or his campaign operatives, it is purely a civil manner in the U.S.  Moreover, there was never publication by Steele, only by Buzzfeed, and a few brave media outlets which weren't deterred that its publication would hurt their ratings if Trump had no chance in the election.  Steele and Fusion GPS were first financed by Trump's GOP primary opponents and then by Clinton and the Democrats.  The courts in the U.S., even Trump's buffoon judicial appointments, would never criminalize private research.

Edited January 6, 2018 by zaphod reborn

[Boon Mee]

There's going to be a few folks heading to jail for Weiner emails disclosures. 

[soalbundy]

Oh ! so the dossier is true then.

[riclag]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"Grassley and Graham are supporters of a campaign by President Trump and some Republicans to demonize Steele and his dossier and cast doubt over the credibility of official U.S. investigations, including one led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The probes are looking into allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to help Republican Trump. Moscow denies interference and Trump denies any collusion".

demonize Steele lol.Yes, cast doubt over the credibility of unverified claims of this report that was used by the FBI  to surveil  a presidential candidate and his staff . This won't lead to anything until after the  IG investigations is complete sometime in March.This is the same investigation that came up with those bias top FBI officials, texting each other to use  a secret  insurance policy to help prevent Trump from being elected .

 

"The dossier that ended up being produced alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and contained salacious and unverified claims. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/conservative-site-first-hired-firm-later-linked-steele-dossier-n815256.

 

"Steele’s dossier circulated in the media during the fall of 2016, but news organizations largely failed to verify any of its key claims. Steele also shared the document with the FBI, where it was apparently taken at least somewhat seriously in light of Steele’s record as an intelligence professional".

https://www.vox.com/2018/1/5/16845704/steele-dossier-russia-trump

[Rhys]

The C 45 holster enablers gather round...

 

[riclag]

8 hours ago, zaphod reborn said:

I can't see any theory under which the preparation of the dossier might be criminal.  I've heard stupid Trumpites claim perjury, but Steele never testified under oath.  Even if it contains lies that were intended to defame Trump or his campaign operatives, it is purely a civil manner in the U.S.  Moreover, there was never publication by Steele, only by Buzzfeed, and a few brave media outlets which weren't deterred that its publication would hurt their ratings if Trump had no chance in the election.  Steele and Fusion GPS were first financed by Trump's GOP primary opponents and then by Clinton and the Democrats.  The courts in the U.S., even Trump's buffoon judicial appointments, would never criminalize private research.

Making false statements while not under oath to Congress is punishable and you can receive up to 5 years in jail ,google it.

 

Edited January 6, 2018 by riclag

[ilostmypassword]

15 minutes ago, riclag said:

demonize Steele lol.Yes, cast doubt over the credibility of unverified claims of this report that was used by the FBI  to surveil  a presidential candidate and his staff . This won't lead to anything until after the  IG investigations is complete sometime in March.This is the same investigation that came up with those bias top FBI officials, texting each other to use  a secret  insurance policy to help prevent Trump from being elected .

 

"The dossier that ended up being produced alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and contained salacious and unverified claims. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/conservative-site-first-hired-firm-later-linked-steele-dossier-n815256.

 

"Steele’s dossier circulated in the media during the fall of 2016, but news organizations largely failed to verify any of its key claims. Steele also shared the document with the FBI, where it was apparently taken at least somewhat seriously in light of Steele’s record as an intelligence professional".

https://www.vox.com/2018/1/5/16845704/steele-dossier-russia-trump

And from the same vox article:

"According to Fusion GPS’s co-founders, it is also true that Steele reported his findings to the FBI, and it appears to be the case that American intelligence services regard Steele as credible and attempted to follow up on what he alleged. But the dossier itself was never the basis of the original FBI inquiry, and, obviously, the basis of Mueller’s follow-on inquiry is the fact that Trump fired the FBI director in an apparent effort to stymie the existing investigation.

The dossier was a major media story a year ago, but should have faded in significance over time as both journalistic and law enforcement inquiries have shed light on a much more solid — but substantially different in detail — version of the Trump-Russia saga."

And the source of this nonsense "This is the same investigation that came up with those bias top FBI officials, texting each other to use  a secret  insurance policy to help prevent Trump from being elected ." is?  It certainly doesn't come from the 2 articles you cited.

 

[ilostmypassword]

4 minutes ago, riclag said:

Making false statements while not under oath to Congress is punishable and you can receive up to 5 years in jail  

Is there enough prison space to jail 330 million Americans?

[dunroaming]

8 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

There's going to be a few folks heading to jail for Weiner emails disclosures. 

I think by the end of this the jail will look like The White House with the Trump's at top table.

Edited January 6, 2018 by dunroaming

[Credo]

45 minutes ago, riclag said:

Making false statements while not under oath to Congress is punishable and you can receive up to 5 years in jail ,google it.

 

Nice try.   The preparation of a dossier does not mean that all the information is verifiable and correct.   To be an offense, it has to have been made up or knowingly false.   Best of luck in proving that it was made up.   But with all the verifiable lies told by the administration, this might not be a can of worms he wants to open.   

[riclag]

16 minutes ago, Credo said:

Nice try.   The preparation of a dossier does not mean that all the information is verifiable and correct.   To be an offense, it has to have been made up or knowingly false.   Best of luck in proving that it was made up.   But with all the verifiable lies told by the administration, this might not be a can of worms he wants to open.   

I wasn't talking about the doss. I was talking about talking to Congress specifically .(Making false statements to  Congress while not under oath is still punishable by up to 5 years in jail).Example did you have contacts within the FBI. No I didn't. Bingo, false statement.

Edited January 6, 2018 by riclag

[zaphod reborn]

3 hours ago, riclag said:

Making false statements while not under oath to Congress is punishable and you can receive up to 5 years in jail ,google it.

 

Steele didn't testify before Congress, Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch did, google it. 5 years for screwing up a timeline?  You give a new meaning to snowflake. 

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, dunroaming said:

I think by the end of this the jail will look like The White House with the Trump's at top table.

By the time they start locking up the Republican crooks, DT will have already been sectioned and sent to the loony house.

[riclag]

6 minutes ago, zaphod reborn said:

Steele didn't testify before Congress, Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch did, google it. 5 years for screwing up a timeline?  You give a new meaning to snowflake. 

 Another one,read my post,it didn't say anything about Steele .Also using the word snowflake is forbidden on this site along with insults.

[ilostmypassword]

4 hours ago, riclag said:

 Another one,read my post,it didn't say anything about Steele .Also using the word snowflake is forbidden on this site along with insults.

But Steele is the person that Republican Senators Grassley and Anderson referred to the Justice Dept. for criminal investigation.

[selftaopath]

16 hours ago, goferman said:

"Trump's puppet Republicans smear Pee-Tape revealer" would be a more telling and accurate headline. Christopher Steele has more credibility than Trump, Grassley and Graham together.

Republican defenders of Trump and anti-democracy are beyond loathsome. Maybe soon they will be gone, but not soon enough. Hope our Republic hold until sane minded individuals are governing. 

 

[tonray]

8 hours ago, riclag said:

Making false statements while not under oath to Congress is punishable and you can receive up to 5 years in jail ,google it.

 

Does that also apply to Jared Kushner and AG sessions who have told Congress on several occasions that they had no contact with Russians only to be refuted later ?

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, riclag said:

 Another one,read my post,it didn't say anything about Steele .Also using the word snowflake is forbidden on this site along with insults.

So who were you talking about, Trump, kushner, sessions?

 

You're right about the snowflakes comment, that should not have been made.

Edited January 7, 2018 by stevenl

[ilostmypassword]

4 hours ago, riclag said:

 Another one,read my post,it didn't say anything about Steele .Also using the word snowflake is forbidden on this site along with insults.

Maybe you should read the topic name. Why would anyone understand you to be referring to someone else?

[blazes]

Everyone knows, even more so after Michael Wolff, that Trump is as thick as two short planks.  However, even with his monumental ignorance, he is most unlikely to have opened himself up to the kind of salacious tape-recordings that Steele mentioned.  Trump had just enough self-awareness that secret tape-recordings were a way of life in the KGB's Russia, and so is most unlikely to have undressed in front of hidden cameras.

And besides, Trump himself admits that he is a "germaphobe" (which may account for why he failed to get on with Angela Merkel).

[boomerangutang]

25 minutes ago, blazes said:

Everyone knows, even more so after Michael Wolff, that Trump is as thick as two short planks.  However, even with his monumental ignorance, he is most unlikely to have opened himself up to the kind of salacious tape-recordings that Steele mentioned.  Trump had just enough self-awareness that secret tape-recordings were a way of life in the KGB's Russia, and so is most unlikely to have undressed in front of hidden cameras.

And besides, Trump himself admits that he is a "germaphobe" (which may account for why he failed to get on with Angela Merkel).

You're assuming Trump has sense.   He has lots of cents, but not much sense.

Each day he says/tweets at least one thing which shows him to be a dufus.  It was so bad, that two weeks ago, one of his lawyers had to lie and say he (the lawyer) commandeered Trump's personal twitter account to tweet something ridiculous and incriminating to Trump.  In reality, the tweet was self-incriminating, because obviously Trump tweeted it himself.  

 

The biggest thing partisan Republican politicians are trying to do by probing Steele is:  WASTING TIME.   They know that: the more time they waste, the more likely they can shield criminal Trump and his cabal.  

[goferman]

7 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

The biggest thing partisan Republican politicians are trying to do by probing Steele is:  WASTING TIME.

IMO, the main reason is to muddy the waters. This has been Trump's approach all along hence the counter-investigations of Hillary et al, repeated dismissals of media stories as "fake news" and denouncing detractors with disparaging nicknames, i.e., Sloppy Steve. Mueller's Report might be so powerful that it stops the clock on other events as its contents become the new orders of the day.

[Credo]

47 minutes ago, blazes said:

Everyone knows, even more so after Michael Wolff, that Trump is as thick as two short planks.  However, even with his monumental ignorance, he is most unlikely to have opened himself up to the kind of salacious tape-recordings that Steele mentioned.  Trump had just enough self-awareness that secret tape-recordings were a way of life in the KGB's Russia, and so is most unlikely to have undressed in front of hidden cameras.

And besides, Trump himself admits that he is a "germaphobe" (which may account for why he failed to get on with Angela Merkel).

He is not known for being able to hold anything in.   He says whatever he wants, whenever he wants without any filter of responsibility.   If he gets into trouble, he simply denies saying it.   If it was recorded, the recording is fake or altered.   

 

He lives in a different reality than the rest of us.   

[riclag]

14 hours ago, Credo said:

He is not known for being able to hold anything in.   He says whatever he wants, whenever he wants without any filter of responsibility.   If he gets into trouble, he simply denies saying it.   If it was recorded, the recording is fake or altered.   

 

He lives in a different reality than the rest of us.   

thank you ,really! well said .That 's a good thing! He's kinda of like a Captain America on coco cola/mc d's and 2 scoops.

Edited January 7, 2018 by riclag

[ilostmypassword]

41 minutes ago, riclag said:

thank you ,really! well said .That 's a good thing! He's kinda of like a Captain America on coco cola/mc d's and 2 scoops.

I missed have missed the episode where Captain America pleaded no contest when he was sued for fraud.

Edited January 7, 2018 by ilostmypassword

[Redline]

Hilarious with the steady stream of lies coming from the white house and th GOP?