Key senator gets authority to subpoena Obama deep state operatives

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in his opening remarks chairing the House Judiciary Committee testimony of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz Dec. 11, 2019 (screenshot)

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday gave its chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the authority to issue subpoenas for testimony from Barack Obama administration officials and evidence in its review of Trump-Russia collusion investigation.

He said earlier this week: "Once we find out that the Mueller investigation was run by people who hated Trump's guts, dripping with partisanship, nobody seems to care. 'Well, we can't figure out if their hatred of Trump had any effect on their actions.' Well, I don't think you have to be that smart to put the puzzle together, but we're going to keep trying.

"And Mr. Horowitz said he didn’t know if the senior top-level officials at the FBI knew about the sub source disavowing the dossier, but that's something you would want to know. It matters to me whether or not the number two guy at the FBI, Comey himself, knew the document was no longer reliable and kept using it. And you can’t answer that question — none of you can."

Fox News reported Democrats opposed the subpoena approval, insisting the committee should focus instead on the Department of Justice's actions under the Trump administration.

In the bull's-eye for Graham are more than 50 mostly former Obama administration officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser Susan Rice and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

"Their day is coming," Graham said.

Fox reported: "The subpoena authorization approved Thursday would also cover any documents, communications and testimony 'related to any aforementioned matter' from current and former officials, including former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, former FBI officials Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Baker and Bill Priestap, as well as former DOJ official Bruce Ohr, among others."

Also cited were figures associated with the Steele dossier, such as Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr, a former Fusion employee and the wife of top DOJ official Bruce Ohr.

The Washington Examiner explained the Senate investigation is building on the audits of the FBI's Russia investigation by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

Republicans point out investigators knew early in their probe there was no evidence supporting the Russia collusion claims, charging it was kept live to undermine President Trump.

"Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s lengthy report, which was released late last year, criticized the Justice Department and the FBI for at least 17 'significant errors and omissions' related to the warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act against Trump campaign associate Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 and for the bureau's reliance on British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s salacious and flawed dossier. Steele put his research together at the behest of the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, funded by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Declassified footnotes show that Steele's dossier may have been compromised by Russian disinformation," the report said.

Graham said this week that those who knew about the problems with Steele's work and continued to use it as evidence are "good candidates" for jail. He said special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation was "off the rails."

The Obama administration operation, Crossfire Hurricane, is the focus of a criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham.