Eleven conservative lawmakers issued a criminal referral Wednesday to the Department of Justice against at least five former senior-level Obama administration officials for wrongdoing connected with the unverified Steele dossier, the warrants used to spy on former Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, and more.
The group of mostly House Freedom Caucus members wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray, urging them to mount criminal investigations into Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and Lisa Page for a long list of potential crimes.
FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and his mistress FBI lawyer Lisa Page’s anti-Trump text messages were obtained by the DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Many of the shocking contents have been released to the public.
The letter also points fingers at former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, acting attorney general Sally Yates, and former acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente for various potential crimes:
NEWS ALERT: 11 House Republicans call on AG Sessions to investigate @Comey, @HillaryClinton, and other @TheJusticeDept officials; Catherine Herridge reports. pic.twitter.com/zvbsADrffu
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 18, 2018
In addition to the potential crimes connected to the Steele dossier and FISA abuse, the lawmakers believe that the leaking of classified information, Clinton’s concealment of campaign payments to an opposition research firm, and Lynch’s threats to an FBI informant mentioning “reprisal” if he came forward with anti-Clinton information in 2016 also warrant investigation. The informant had provided the Bureau with information on the Uranium One scandal involving the approval in 2010 to sell roughly 20 percent of American uranium mining assets to Russia.
“We write to refer the following individuals for investigation of potential violation(s) of federal statutes,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter released by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). “In doing so, we are especially mindful of the dissimilar degrees of zealousness that has marked the investigations into Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, respectively. Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law outlined below are vetted appropriately.”
The criminal referral points to the unverified Steele dossier and the presentation of “false and/or unverified information” to the FISA court as particular areas of concern.
“Accordingly, we refer to DOJ all DOJ and FBI personnel responsible for signing the Carter Page warrant application that contained unverified and/or false information for possible violation(s) of 18 USC 242 and 18 USC 1505 and 1515b,” the criminal referral states.
Former acting attorney general Sally Yates and former acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente signed off on the fraudulent surveillance warrant, making them possible subjects in any criminal investigation into the matter. Boente was recently tapped by Wray to be FBI general counsel.
The lawmakers say in the letter that Comey “engaged in questionable conduct vis-à-vis President Donald Trump,” and referred to a May 2017 New York Times article highlighting memos leaked by Comey to a friend. “Comey wrote memoranda detailing alleged conversations between himself and President Trump, creating ‘a paper trail’ for ‘documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation,’” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter states that according to the Times article, Comey “created similar memos — including some that are classified — about every phone call and meeting he had with the president.”
House Republicans are also looking closely at other areas of serious concern, investigative journalist Sara Carter reports:
Other recent documents obtained by congressional investigators also suggest possible coordination by Obama White House officials, the CIA and the FBI into the investigation into President Donald Trump’s campaign. According to those documents, the senior Obama officials used unsubstantiated evidence to launch allegations in the media that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
The documents also reveal that former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, sent a letter on Aug. 29, 2016, asking former FBI Director James Comey to investigate the allegations, which were presented to him by then CIA Director John Brennan. Brennan had briefed Reid privately days earlier on the counterintelligence investigation and documents suggest Reid was also staying in close touch with Comey over the issues, as reported.
The eleven Republicans who signed on to the letter are Reps Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Todd Rokita (R-IN), Dave Brat (R-VA), Andy Harris (R-MD), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Jody Hice (R-GA), Ted Yoho (R-FL). GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) .
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski applauded the effort on Fox News Wednesday morning:
.@CLewandowski_: "Hopefully @TheJusticeDept will look into Jim @Comey lying under oath in front of Congress." #OutnumberedOT pic.twitter.com/GH25xqWZdB
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 18, 2018
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