Republicans refer Russian dossier author for investigation

  Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham believe Christopher Steele–the foreign agent contracted through GPS Fusion and funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign–lied to the FBI and they are recommending a special counsel to investigate the matter.

  Here is more:

Two Republican senators have recommended that the Department of Justice criminally investigate the author of the Trump dossier.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a senior committee member, told the Justice Department they believe Christopher Steele, the former British spy who helped put together the dossier, knowingly lied to federal authorities about his communications with U.S. journalists.

Grassley and Graham delivered a letter, as well as a classified memo, to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray containing the basis for the criminal investigation.

Here is some of what the letter said:

“Based on the information contained therein, we are respectfully referring Mr. Steele to you for investigation of potential violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, for statements the Committee has reason to believe Mr. Steele made regarding his distribution of information contained,” they said in a press statement.

That federal criminal code refers to knowingly and willfully making false or misleading statements to federal authorities.

Grassley indicated that Steele didn’t tell the truth when asked by the FBI whether he leaked parts of the dossier to reporters.

Here is what Charles Grassley had to say:

“Everyone needs to follow the law and be truthful in their interactions with the FBI,” he said. “If the same actions have different outcomes, and those differences seem to correspond to partisan political interests, then the public will naturally suspect that law enforcement decisions are not on the up-and-up. Maybe there is some innocent explanation for the inconsistencies we have seen, but it seems unlikely. In any event, it’s up to the Justice Department to figure that out.”

In the accompanying letter to the FBI, Grassley said he was attaching information about communications between Steele and “multiple U.S. news outlets” about the dossier.

“I don’t take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation. But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review,” Grassley said in a statement.

And Lindsey Graham:

 “after reviewing how Mr. Steele conducted himself in distributing information contained in the dossier and how many stop signs the DOJ ignored in its use of the dossier, I believe that a special counsel needs to review this matter.”

  If he did lie to the FBI he should face charges, it is as simple as that, but of course the left-leaning websites see this as a diversion from where the focus is supposed to be in the Senate’s Russian investigation. They are claiming this proves the Republicans are trying to discredit the discredited dossier instead of finding out if there was collusion.

  I would remind these people that Robert Mueller’s investigation is also supposed to be about Russian collusion and yet the only person charged with a crime is charged with a crime that has nothing to do with Russian collusion or the election for that matter. He was for an alleged crime which was committed years ago.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium