by Chuck Ross
Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy offered up a tip Monday night for congressional investigators probing the Obama administration’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation.
“So whoever’s investigating this, tell them to look for emails between Brennan and Comey in December 2016,” Gowdy said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, referring to former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey.
In the interview, Gowdy did not say whether he has knowledge of what is in any Brennan-Gowdy emails. But Gowdy also suggested that the FBI deemed Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous anti-Trump dossier, as a less-than-credible source.
Steele, a former British spy, served as a confidential human source for the FBI. He provided the FBI with parts of his dossier, which the FBI then used to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page.
“I think you’ll be surprised at whether or not they viewed Steele as being credible,” said Gowdy, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and is now a Fox News contributor.
Republicans have sought a slew of internal FBI documents related to Steele and the dossier. They’ve called on President Trump to declassify portions of the fourth and final surveillance warrant against Page, as well as FBI interview notes with Bruce Ohr, the Justice Department official who served as Steele’s handler.
The FBI also prepared what’s called a Human Source Validation Report for Steele in November 2016, weeks after the FBI obtained its first spy warrant against Page.
The Justice Department’s inspector general is reportedly investigating whether Steele was a reliable source.
Gowdy also told Hannity that the FBI withheld exculpatory information in the FISA applications.
“I can tell you it is even worse than what you described. It is what you described, in addition to the withholding of exculpatory information,” he said.
“They made no effort to corroborate the dossier until after it had been used in the application and a renewal. No effort. It’s not that they failed, it’s that they made no effort to do it.”
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Chuck Ross is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Chuck on Twitter.
