Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) are trying to get the FBI to file criminal charges against the author of the Steele Dossier in an abuse of congressional power to cover-up for Trump.
The New York Times reported, “Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a senior committee member, told the Justice Department they had reason to believe that a former British spy, Christopher Steele, lied to federal authorities about his contacts with reporters regarding information in the dossier, and they urged the department to investigate. The committee is running one of three congressional investigations into Russian election meddling, and its inquiry has come to focus, in part, on Mr. Steele’s explosive dossier that purported to detail Russia’s interference and the Trump campaign’s complicity.”
As has been flagged for months, the mission of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee has been to cover-up for Trump and derail the Russia investigation.
Rachel Maddow discussed in June 2017 how Republicans are using the Senate Judiciary Committee to discredit the FBI’s Russia investigation, “These Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are now asking about why you started that investigation what you have, what you submitted to the court, how you got your warrants? What they appear to be up to is trying to discredit the FBI for having started this investigation at all. What they are implying is that the whole FBI investigation all stemmed from that dossier of allegations against Trump and his campaign that one that was published in Buzzfeed in January, the Christopher Steele dossier. They’re saying implicitly that dossier of materials in unproven and suspect and that that’s what the FBI’s whole investigation is based on, and therefore, it’s nonsense.”
Republicans think that if they discredit Christopher Steele, they discredit the dossier, and if they discredit the dossier, they also discredit the FBI investigation. The co-founders of Fusion GPS already made it clear that the dossier is not the basis for the FBI’s investigation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has known since last August that the Steele Dossier wasn’t the trigger for the FBI’s investigation.
The demand for criminal charges is all about discrediting the FBI’s investigation.
Senate Republicans know that Trump is running out of options, and the investigation is closing in.
The recommendation for criminal charges should be viewed as more evidence that the Russia scandal is a Republican Party problem. The party is trying to cover for their president, which means that it will be the party and Trump who pay for the Russia scandal.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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