Washington – The Republican chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs issued a motion to FBI Director Christopher Wray for records related to the agency’s Russian probe, the first to emerge from the investigation. Senate Republicans on the origins of FBI investigations and ties between Democrats and Ukraine.
Sen. Ron Johnson’s statement, obtained by CBS News, is dated August 6 and forces Wray to “produce all records related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” referring to the FBI’s counterintelligence probe into Russian mediation in ‘ the 2016 presidential election and ties between Trump aides of campaign and Russia. A lawsuit is also being prepared against Jonathan Winer, a former deputy secretary of state, Johnson said.
Among the documents Johnson’s seeks from Wray are “all records provided or made available to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice for his assessment” of the FBI investigation, such as “all records relating to applications to the Administration of General Services (GSA) or Office of the Inspector General of GSA for Presidential Transitional Registers from November 2016 to December 2017.”
Johnson also published a letter on Monday in which he decided to move forward with subpoenas as part of a House of Representatives inquiry into possible conflicts of interest between Bidens and Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company Hunter Bid deployed. The Wisconsin Republican said he “decided to carry out gestures primarily because of my strong belief that transparency in government is essential and that the American people have waited too long for the truth.”
The statement and letter were first reported by Politico.
Johnson accused Democrats of a “coordinated disinformation campaign and effort to personally attack First Chamber Finance Committee Charles Grassley and me for the purpose of marginalizing the findings of our investigation.”
“President Grassley and I will not be deterred by the false accusations that are expected to be made by individuals with strong political advantages and motivations,” Johnson said. “Our investigation has been and will continue with the utmost integrity and transparency. We aim to determine and open up the truth.”
The Wisconsin Republican also rejected a Washington Post op-ed written by Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, who argued that Congress “could become a forum for debunked conspiracy theories peddled by Kremlin proxies” because of Johnson’s investigation.
Blumenthal claimed that the Homeland Security Committee used documents it had received from Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian member of the Ukrainian parliament, but Johnson said that was false.
“Let me be clear: My committee’s investigation into allegations of conflicts of interest within the Obama administration related to Ukraine’s policies and allegations of corruption within the Obama administration affecting the 2016 election is focused on documents and officials of U.S. government agencies and a U.S. Democratic-affiliated lobbying company, “he said. “We have not taken the documents from Ukrainians, nor have we, and Democrats continue.”
Johnson accused Democrats and the media of “doing the job of Russian President Vladimir Putin for him.”
“Puppet masters in the Kremlin could no longer be satisfied with the political division and discord driven by the resistance movement against President Trump,” he wrote.
Senator Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, did not immediately return a request for comment.
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