House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) announced Wednesday evening that the Justice Department reached an agreement with the committee to cooperate with its investigation into the salacious Trump-Russia dossier — and the events that launched the so-called collusion probe.
FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) Wednesday to discuss the need for the department’s compliance with the House Intelligence Committee’s demands. Nunes previously accused the Justice Department of “stonewalling” the committee’s investigation into the role the dossier played in bringing about the probe into potential collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.
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“After speaking to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein this evening, I believe the House Intelligence Committee has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice that will provide the committee with access to all the documents and witnesses we have requested,” Nunes said in a statement late Wednesday.
“The committee looks forward to receiving access to the documents over the coming days,” Nunes added.
The House Intelligence Committee chairman reportedly subpoenaed both Wray and Rosenstein in August for failing to turn over documents pertaining to dossier author Christopher Steele and his communication with the DOJ. Nunes also reportedly threatened to hold the officials in contempt of Congress in December if they refused to comply.
The unverified dossier came under fire from conservatives after revelations that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the campaign of Trump’s 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, helped fund the project. The House Intelligence Committee also sought to investigate what role the dossier played in justifying the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance warrants used to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
In late December, Nunes blasted the DOJ and the FBI for their “failure to fully produce” the requested documents; his letter was obtained by Fox News.
“Unfortunately, DOJ/FBI’s intransigence with respect to the August 24 subpoenas is part of a broader pattern of behavior that can no longer be tolerated,” Nunes wrote. “As a result of the numerous delays and discrepancies that have hampered the process of subpoena compliance, the committee no longer credits the representations made by DOJ and/or the FBI regarding these matters.”
Related: Devin Nunes: News That Clinton Paid for Dossier Just ‘Tip of the Iceberg’
At the time, Nunes requested compliance by January 3, noting, “Not only did documents exist that were directly responsive to the committee’s subpoenas, but they involved senior DOJ and FBI officials who were swiftly reassigned when their roles in matters under the committee’s investigation were brought to light.”
The Justice Department and the FBI fielded intense backlash after reports revealed that FBI agent Peter Strzok, one of Mueller’s former Russia probe investigators, was removed after Mueller learned of his anti-Trump texts with a colleague. Strzok is facing a review for the role he played in investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State.
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.
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