Docs: Nellie Ohr involved with 'spreadsheet' claiming Trump-Russia links

Bruce Ohr and Christopher Steele

Government documents obtained by Washington watchdog Judicial Watch reveal that Bruce Ohr, the now-demoted Department of Justice official who worked with Russia "dossier" creator Christopher Steele to foster claims of collusion against then-candidate Donald Trump, had a spreadsheet tying Trump to all kinds of Russia interests.

The documents are the latest obtained by Judicial Watch in its ongoing campaign to expose "deep state" officials in the Obama administration who tried to prevent Trump's election and later undermine his presidency.

Ohr, was a key liaison for Steele, who was hired to produce his now-debunked anti-Trump dossier by the company that employed Ohr's wife Nellie, Fusion GPS.

The opposition research firm received funds for the dossier project from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

The information Ohr promoted included a spreadsheet "that tries to link President Trump to dozens of Russians," Judicial Watch said.

"These documents show a crazed DOJ-FBI effort to use the Clinton spy ring at Fusion GPS, namely Nellie Ohr, to smear President Trump – even before he was sworn in as president," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Clinton campaign operative Nellie Ohr may as well as have had a desk at the Justice Department."

Judicial Watch released 330 new pages of documents showing Bruce Ohr, who was demoted from his post as U.S. Associated Deputy Attorney General in 2017, talking up his wife's information.

"On December 5, 2016, Bruce Ohr emailed himself an Excel spreadsheet, seemingly from his wife Nellie Ohr, titled 'WhosWho19Sept2016.' The spreadsheet purports to show relationship descriptions and 'linkages' between Donald Trump, his family and criminal figures, many of whom were Russians. This list of individuals allegedly 'linked to Trump' include: a Russian involved in a 'gangland killing;' an Uzbek mafia don; a former KGB officer suspected in the murder of Paul Tatum; a Russian who reportedly 'buys up banks and pumps them dry'; a Russian money launderer for Sergei Magnitsky; a Turk accused of shipping oil for ISIS; a couple who lent their name to the Trump Institute, promoting its 'get-rich-quick schemes'; a man who poured him a drink; and others," Judicial Watch said.

Judicial Watch explained Bruce Ohr also emailed himself a document in 2016 called "Manafort Chronology," which also came from his wife at the Democratic campaign-linked Fusion GPS.

The document details Manafort's interactions with Russians and others.

"FBI interview reports from December 5 and December 12, and December 20, 2017, show that Bruce Ohr 'voluntarily' gave these anti-Trump and Manafort materials, created for the Clinton campaign by Fusion GPS, to the FBI," Judicial Watch said.

And then, within days, "Bruce Ohr's wife, Nellie Ohr, forwarded text messages to him that she'd sent to her 'colleagues,' where she refers to the Steele dossier as the 'yellow rain dossier' and the 'yellow showers dossier.'"

Nellie Ohr, at that time, "speculates that Department K of the Russian intelligence service FSB 'would be a pretty good candidate for listening in on Hillary,'" the report said.

And when a friend of Nellie Ohr sent her an article "touting the Steele dossier's claim that an alleged deal between Russian oil company Rosneft and Trump supporter Steve Schwarzman constituted a 'high crime of treason worthy of impeachment,'" she immediately sent it to the FBI.

That "friend" was Kathleen Kavalec, a former State Department worker who four months earlier had concluded Steele was not "credible.

Additionally, the new documents reveal DOJ prosecutor Lisa Holtyn emailed Bruce Ohr "to see if he could connect her as well as prosecutors Joe Wheatley and Ivana Nizich with his wife, Nellie Ohr, as she could be a 'great resource' for them," Judicial Watch said.

"He replies, 'I'm sure Nellie would be delighted to speak with them. I’m pretty sure there is no conflict of interest since they aren’t paying her or anything like that.'"

Judicial Watch obtained the records through an August 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the Justice Department after it failed to respond to a May 29, 2018, FOIA request.

The controversy is over the Obama administration's submission of the dubious dossier to a top-secret court to obtain permission to spy on the Trump campaign for alleged collusion with Russia to win the 2016 election.

However, Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation concluded there was no collusion and it declined to refer obstruction of justice charges.

The Obama administration's probe of the Trump campaign and the origin of the collusion charges is under investigation by the Justice Department.

Already, it's been revealed that charges were referred against former FBI Director James Comey but the DOJ declined to prosecute.

Judicial Watch noted that several months ago it obtained documents showing that Bruce Ohr in his preparation to testify to the Senate and House intelligence committees in January 2018 wrote to a lawyer about "possible ethics concerns."

Bruce Ohr forwarded the email to Nellie Ohr at Fusion GPS.

Documents also have shown Bruce Ohr stayed in contact with Steele even after Steele was fired by the FBI for revealing to the media his job as an FBI informant.

Further, Judicial Watch uncovered that Ohr received a total of $42,520 in performance bonuses during the Trump/Russia investigation.