In October 2016, the FBI applied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a warrant to wiretap Page, a former Trump campaign adviser. "The FBI then used the same dossier to spy on the Trump campaign." Meadows’ omission of these details could be misleading for readers of his email. Even Steele himself met with FBI officials on July 5, 2016, according to the New Yorker. David Corn, a reporter at Mother Jones, also admitted on Twitter that he provided the Steele memos to the FBI shortly after the election. John McCain said he delivered a version of the dossier to then-FBI director James Comey in late 2016. The FBI received multiple versions of the Steele dossier from several different people, according to an email Strzok sent colleagues in January 2017, which was obtained by The Hill. Steele," Strzok told lawmakers during a congressional hearing.īut Bruce Ohr was not the FBI’s only source for the dossier. Ohr provided information to the FBI that included material that is what everybody is calling the dossier, reporting from Mr. It is true, however, that Bruce Ohr gave the dossier to the FBI, according to former FBI agent Peter Strzok’s testimony. Although Meadows’ statement does not specifically allege that Bruce Ohr received the dossier from his wife, other Republicans have insisted that she acted as a go-between for Fusion GPS and law enforcement agencies.īut as we noted in a fact-check of conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt about Jordan’s theory, there is no evidence that Nellie Ohr personally routed the dossier to the Justice Department. While Nellie Ohr was employed by Fusion GPS, Bruce Ohr worked in the Justice Department. Steele produced 35 pages of research memos, which became collectively known as the Steele dossier and detailed some salacious - but not fully verified - claims about Trump. It was only after Trump secured the Republican nomination that Fusion GPS was hired on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee by their law firm, Perkins Coie, to continue compiling research about Trump, according to the New York Times.Īt that point, the firm hired Steele, who had sources in Russia. Meadows is correct that during the 2016 election, Nellie Ohr worked for Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that was hired to work for then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to Fox News.īut the firm’s research into Trump was already underway when the Clinton campaign got involved - a fact Meadows omitted in his email.įusion GPS was originally hired by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website. the firm hired by the Clinton campaign"īruce Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, is a 55-year-old former government official and Russia expert. Ben Williamson, Meadows’ communications director, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The FBI’s National Press Office declined to comment. But much has been reported already, and we wondered how Meadows’ statement would stack up against publicly available information. "So Nellie Ohr works for Fusion, works for (Fusion GPS founder and former journalist) Glenn Simpson, and she's giving documents to Bruce Ohr, who’s giving them to the FBI," Jordan said.ĭetails surrounding the dossier, the Page wiretap and the Russia investigation are still emerging. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leveled the same charge. During a July 12 congressional hearing with FBI agent Peter Strzok, Rep. Other Trump allies have also sought to link Ohr, his wife and the dossier to the FBI’s wiretapping of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The FBI then used the same dossier to spy on the Trump campaign." "Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS - which was the firm hired by the Clinton campaign to write the dossier. "Here are some key facts you need to know about Bruce Ohr to understand why he is important to our investigation," Meadows wrote in an email newsletter. But even before that request, Meadows was floating a theory for his supporters to consider. 5, a week after a closed-door interview between Ohr and the House Oversight Committee, Meadows sent a letter asking the Justice Department to review Ohr’s contacts with Steele. Mark Meadows, a western North Carolina Republican who is one of the president’s staunchest defenders and a leader of the House Freedom Caucus, has criticized Ohr for his connection to Steele, the author of the dossier that made claims about the president’s financial and personal ties to Russia. In a matter of weeks, Ohr has transformed from a virtual unknown in politics to a favorite target of President Donald Trump and his allies. The most recent is Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official whose relationship with former British spy Christopher Steele has sounded alarms among congressional Republicans. The special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has brought a lot of names to the center of attention.
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