Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and Trump transition team advisor, is continuing his assault on the FBI.
Rep. Nunes shut down his committee probe of Russian election interference and potential Trump campaign collusion without conducting a thorough investigation. Now he wants the Justice Department to turn over the document that started the Trump-Russia investigation in the first place.
In a letter to the Justice Department, Nunes is demanding an unredacted copy of the document that initiated the FBI’s investigation of links between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign. In the letter, provided Wednesday to the Washington Examiner, Nunes threatens to exhaust “all appropriate legal remedies,” including civil action in federal court, if the agency does not provide the document by April 11.
The document in question describes information provided to the FBI by an Australian diplomat after a conversation with Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos in April 2016.
Papadopoulos, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, reportedly had drinks with an Australian diplomat in London in May 2016 and told him the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. The diplomat informed U.S. authorities after stolen Democratic emails started showing up online, and in July 2016, the FBI opened its investigation.
In his letter, Nunes complains that the FBI has provided Congress with only a heavily redacted version of the document, based on “its supposed sensitivity."
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“With their most recent letter, the majority is continuing, and indeed ramping up, their counterinvestigations solely designed to attack the FBI and DOJ in an effort to undermine Robert Mueller and protect the president at all costs,” [House Intel Committee Ranking Member Adam] Schiff (D-CA) said. “This may suit President Trump, but it is a grave disservice to the country and our law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”
Full story: Nunes presses FBI for new Trump-Russia document (Politico)