Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has sided with a fellow Republican congressman in a dispute with Department of Justice officials over the surrendering of confidential information. The documents pertain to the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling.
Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, had issued subpoenas seeking a number of documents relating to the now infamous Steele Dossier – the report put together by former British agent Christopher Steele that alleges Russia has compromising information on President Trump. Specifically, Nunes was looking for documents that detailed the FBI’s willingness to fund Steele’s research, and whether the FBI used information contained in the dossier to obtain surveillance warrants for the Trump campaign.
The Justice Department had previously allowed Intelligence Committee members to review other, highly classified materials at the department, but last month Nunes raised the bar, threatening top DOJ officials with contempt of Congress if his subpoenas were not honored. The documents in question are mostly FBI internal investigative documents that are rarely released or shared outside of the bureau.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI head Christopher Wray paid Ryan a visit yesterday to attempt to persuade him to honor their request but were apparently unable to do so. A compromise seems to have been reached in which Nunes will be allowed access to the documents, but the documents will not be turned over. Committee members will have to go to a Justice Department facility to view them.