Government watchdog Judicial Watch announced Tuesday it has obtained copies of documents showing former FBI agent Peter Strzok and Bruce Ohr, the DOJ official whose wife worked for the company that created the anti-Trump Steele dossier, were holding regular conversations.
The communication took place as the Obama administration was investigating allegations of Trump-Russia collusion during the 2016 election that later were debunked by Robert Mueller’s special council probe. The Justice Department currently is conducting a criminal investigation of the origins of the Obama investigation.
Strzok’s determination to prevent Trump from winning and to undermine him should he be elected was documented in texts with his paramour, FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, was on the payroll of Fusion GPS, which was paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to commission the dossier of allegations, based on Russian sources, produced by former British spy Christopher Steele. The Obama DOJ and FBI used the unverified, politically charged document as evidence to obtain warrants to spy on the Trump campaign.
“Ohr and Strzok clearly were working regularly with each other during the time the illicit Spygate operation heated up against President Trump,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“It speaks volumes that Judicial Watch was forced to drag the DOJ and FBI into court in order to force the agency to admit to documents they’ve obviously had all along.”
The watchdog organization said it has obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit multiple pages of communications between Strzok and Ohr.
They are documents the DOJ previously claimed could not be found.
Judicial Watch has been trying to obtain the information since mid-2018, challenging the claim there were no records “in light of the preeminent role both individuals played in the anti-Trump collusion investigation.”
In addition, Ohr himself testified before Congress that he met and communicated with Strzok.
“The documents show contact between Ohr and Strzok in the weeks after the 2016 presidential election, during the presidential transition, and in the days following President Donald Trump’s inauguration,” Judicial Watch said.
For instance, FBI lawyer Page set up a meeting shortly after the 2016 election with Ohr and Strzok among the “required attendees.”
Another meeting took place just a few days later.
Ohr wot to Strzok and Page under the subject “Meeting with Bruce Swartz”: “Thanks again for taking the time to chat today. As I mentioned, I would like to set up a short meeting for us with Bruce Swartz. Would next Monday at 5:30 p.m. work? Also, is there any chance you guys could come over to our building?”
A later meeting scheduled for Dec. 5 was canceled, but in January, another was held.
They exchanged “classified” information as well as a “password.”
Judicial Watch noted that in March it released heavily redacted records from the DOJ that reveal Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI in November 2016 for revealing to the media his position as an FBI confidential informant.
“In June 2019, Judicial Watch made public DOJ documents showing the removal of Bruce Ohr from the position of Associate Attorney General in 2017; his transfer from Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force to International Affairs in 2018; and that Ohr received a total of $42,520 in performance bonuses during the Trump/Russia investigation. Ohr’s bonus nearly doubled from $14,520 (received in November 2015) to $28,000 in November 2016.”
The watchdog also noted that in August it uncovered 34 pages of “302” report material from FBI interviews with Bruce Ohr. They showed that in November 2016, Ohr said that “reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia were going to the Clinton Campaign” and “Jon Winer at the U.S. State Department and the FBI.”
