you
embattled Justice Department official
brucer had contact in 2016 within
colleague Andrew Weissman who is now
atop Robert Mueller deputy as well as
other senior FBI officials about the
controversial anti-trump dossier and the
individuals behind it to sources close
to the matter told Fox News the sources
said Earth's outreach about the dossier
as well as its author ex British spy
Christopher Steele the opposition
research firm behind it glenn simpson's
fusion gps and his wife null ears work
for fusion occurred before and after the
FBI fired steel as a source over his
media contacts hers network of contacts
on the DA seer included former FBI agent
Peter Strasser
former FBI lawyer lisa page former
deputy director Andrew McCabe Wiseman
and at least one other DOJ official and
a current FBI agent who worked with
sterzick on the Russia case Wiseman was
kept in the loop on the dossier a source
said while he was chief of the criminal
fraud division he is now assigned to
special counsel Mueller's Dean the list
includes several figures who have since
attracted the scorn of President Trump
as he decried the Russia probe and those
involved in its early stages Trump has
been particularly tough on earth given
his wife Nellie's past work for fusion
GPS as the president alleges bias
against him inside the department just
Thursday morning Trump complained on
Twitter about Nellie errs fusion work
and exclaimed Bruce was a boss at the
Department of Justice and is
unbelievably still there
hers broad circle of contacts indicates
members of FBI leadership knew about his
back-channel activities regarding the
dossier and steal congressional
Republicans are still trying to get to
the bottom of vers role and circulating
the unverified dossier which became a
critical piece of evidence in obtaining
Azhar
balance war and for then Trump campaign
aide Carter page in October 2016 her was
grilled by House committees behind
closed doors for seven hours earlier
this week a lot going on in Washington
as well lawmakers grilled Bruce or in
closed-door hearings on Capitol Hill
today Republicans say that or played a
central role in the Obama Justice
Department's investigation into the 2016
Trump campaign Fox News chief
intelligence correspondent Catherine
Herridge has been covering the story at
the very beginning and she joins us
tonight
well thanks Tucker the closed-door
deposition lasted seven hours with a
consensus among Republican lawmakers
that Justice Department official Bruce
or told the FBI there were issues with
the Trump dossier and its author former
British spy Christopher Steele but the
evidence suggests the national security
court was kept in the dark when it
authorized a surveillance warrant for
Trump campaign aide one lawmaker said or
his answers about the timing and
handling of the dossier do not line up
with other witnesses including former
FBI lawyer Lisa page who sent anti Trump
text and Glenn Simpson whose firm fusion
GPS was paid by the DNC in Clinton
campaign for the anti-trump research
with more than two decades of government
service or his portfolio at the Justice
Department was gangs and drugs not
Russia but in 2016
documents show or became the back
channel between FBI officials and Steele
after the bureau fired him as a
confidential source earlier today or
ignored Fox's questions
mr. hora acting alone or did you have a
story from a Justice Department official
how did your wife benefit from the
donkey and contract did you have a
conflict of interest lawmakers also told
reporters today that or had a conflict
because his wife Nellie or was part of
that firm that put together the dossier
and she specifically did Russia research
Tucker Katherine Harris thanks a lot a
republican authored House Intelligence
Committee memo released in February said
that Steele maintained contact with her
before and after the government fired
the ex British spy as a source shortly
after the election the FBI began
interviewing her documenting his
communications with Steele the memo said
for example in September 2016 Steele
admitted to her his feelings against
then-candidate Trump when Steele said he
was desperate that Donald Trump not get
elected and was passionate about him not
being president
in addition earth handwritten notes
reviewed by Fox News showed that two
weeks after the election on November 21
he made a list including page stroszek
and the FBI agent which may have been a
reference to a meeting no prosecution
yet push case ahead on M may go back to
Chris he wrote congressional
investigators told Fox News they believe
the M likely refers to former Trump
campaign chairman Paul Manafort who
recently was convicted on tax and bank
fraud charges in Virginia and the
Chris's Christopher Steele that same
month Steele was fired by the FBI as a
confidential source over his contact
with the media about the dossier
according to court records an FBI memo
also states that Wiseman met as early as
April 2017 with a group of reporters
about mana forge the timing appears
significant coming one month before FBI
director James Comey
was fired and Muller was appointed to
lead the Special Counsel team Republican
lawmakers who questioned her earlier
this week say the connections between
brucer and his wife Nelly who did Russia
research for the opposition research
firm behind the dossier
we're known we did learn today for sure
that when the FBI took the took the
dossier to the secret court to get the
warrant to spy on Carter page I didn't
tell the court important facts like who
paid for the document then tell the
court about the ORS involvement in
producing the document and they didn't
tell the court that Christopher Steele
had this extreme bias against President
Trump important facts that they should
have disclosed to the court they did it
Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan
reacting to Justice Department official
Bruce ores closed-door testimony on
Capitol Hill yesterday this coming as
Republicans from two House committees
learned the FBI doubted the credibility
of the salacious anti-trump dossier that
figured into obtaining a FISA warrant to
wiretap former Trump campaign aide
Carter Paige Andy McCarthy's a former US
attorney and a Fox News contributor and
while we all would have loved a camera
had to have been live in that room so we
could have seen the lawmakers questions
to Bruce or we are learning some of what
was exchanged in that room what do you
make of what you know so far well I'm
pleased to hear Sandra that he appears
to have answered a lot of the questions
although they're saying that there was
some problem with not being able to
recall things I was a little bit
concerned that they they try to cut off
entirely important areas of inquiry that
probably that apparently didn't happen
but you know there are a lot of
questions about what the FBI and the
Justice Department knew about the
provenance of this information from
steel before they gave the application
to the FISA Court whether they were
straight with the FISA Court when they
were describing who Steele was and
importantly and I think this is
something that hasn't been covered much
what about the information that Steele
was transmitting to the Justice
Department the FBI through or after the
first FISA application
did they include that and the later ones
and not tell the court where it was
coming from I'm sure we're gonna get a
hear a lot more about what was exchanged
in that room
Andy meanwhile Darryl eisah came on
earlier and he was talking about it what
exactly they learned when it came to ORS
explanation of that dossier here and he
was one of the questioners in that room
and here's what he told us one of the
things that Bruce or said to us a and it
took a little work to get it was he
clearly knew this was opposition
research paid for by quote opponents to
Donald Trump you know he said he didn't
know it was the DNC at the time nor did
he need to his wife was happily doing
research Opry search and then turning it
over as evidence what did you think of
that you know I think this is crucially
important and it also goes to what the
FBI and the Justice Department knew at
the time that they initially applied for
the warrant this information came from
fusion GPS which is contracted
ultimately by the Clinton campaign and
you know I think it it is important to
emphasize this fusion GPS his job was
not to investigate Donald Trump or help
the FBI investigate Donald Trump Fusion
GPS his job was to get Hillary Clinton
elected president and everything they
did and everything they touched in terms
of what their project was on Donald
Trump has to be looked at through that
prism I mean sometimes you read this
stuff and you see this reporting and you
would think that you know fusion GPS is
just like another FBI unit in the
country they were a campaign component
that was trying to get a candidate
elected Andy do you think it's strange
that Bruce or has not been interviewed
yet at least by Robert Moeller well I
you know whether whether he has or not
I'm not I don't know that we can be
confident that we know the answer to
that I'll tell you this when you're
dealing with somebody who is a
government official and who is still
inside government that's a lot easier
investigation for a prosecutor to to
carry out because you don't need
subpoenas and
and court process in order to get your
hands on the relevant documents so it
may be if the if Muller hasn't spoken to
him yet it may well be that you know
they're trying to assemble and master
all the documents before they talk to
him I'd be surprised so Sandra because
we know from the paper trail that oar
was passing along to Muller the desire
of Steel to be you know to have a to
have a path into Muller's investigation
and to speak to those investigators so
the odd if or was playing that role for
Steele and yet not dealing with Mullah
directly himself finally I want to ask
you about this present the present one
of the president's latest tweets this
came out this morning he wrote quote
Hillary Clinton's emails many of which
are classified information got hacked by
China next move better be by the FBI and
DOJ after all there of other missteps
and he lists many of them their
credibility will be forever gone I've
got to leave it there Andy but that was
the president's final word on that
calling into question the credibility of
the DOJ that is where we are today after
that line of questioning by lawmakers
Andy McCarthy thanks for coming on the
program this morning
when they went to court the FBI knew
three important things and they did not
disclose this to the court Rep Jim
Jordan Republican Ohio said they knew
the otters involvement in the production
of the dossier
they knew that Chris teal had this
extreme bias against the president and
they knew who paid for the dossier and
they did not disclose these key facts to
the court when they went there to get
the warrant to spy on Carter page in the
Trump campaign Fusion GPS and its
co-founder have not responded to Fox
News questions for this story or
previous reports while fusion GPS
financial records were the subject of a
lawsuit and are not public sources told
Fox News that nelio received multiple
payments in 2016 from fusion GPS and the
amounts were not small change Fox News
contacted lawyers for the current and
former officials with whom er was in
contact as well as Mueller's office and
they declined to comment or did not
respond House Democrats say the focus
honor a career civil servant whose
portfolio did not include Russia is
being mischaracterized by Republicans
and his outreach on behalf of Steel was
not prohibited or unlawful as part of a
fact check provided to reporters reps
Elijah Cummings DMD and Jerrold Nadler
dn.y said in fall 2016
the FBI ended their formal relationship
with mr. steel as a confidential human
source due to his unauthorized
disclosure to the press not because of
any factual issues with the dossier or
other information mr. steel had provided
the senior Democrats continued when mr.
steel subsequently reached out to mr.
her with additional information mr. Herr
appropriately handed it off to FBI
investigators to assess its credibility
and potentially corroborated
at the time mr. Herr was the director of
the organized crime drug enforcement
task force and it was not his job to vet
the accuracy of this information himself
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