FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Justice Department To Share ‘New Details’ with Lawmakers on FBI Plant in Trump Campaign
June 7, 2018 (EIRNS)—Early next week, the Department of Justice will hold a special briefing for the bipartisan “Group of Eight”—leaders of the House and Senate as well as leading members of Congressional intelligence committees—on the FBI’s decision to deploy an informant into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to query officials on ties with Russia.
This will be a follow-up to the May 24 meeting that included the same individuals, but a DOJ official who spoke with Politico, said that now, the Department will be able to “provide the documents that were available for review, but not inspected by the members at the previous briefing along with some additional material.” In a lame attempt to cover for its stonewalling, the DOJ said yesterday that, of course, it would have liked to provide information on the informant sooner, but it had to take “a little additional time to provide the most fulsome answers to the members’ questions as possible.”
Relevant also is the June 6 letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In it, Grassley slammed Rosenstein for his “insufficient” reply to Grassley’s May 11, 2018 letter seeking information about the circumstances surrounding Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s reported conversations with the Russian ambassador, and FBI documents related to those conversations. Rosenstein, Senator Grassley said, has engaged in obfuscation and doubletalk, to prevent his committee from performing its Constitutional oversight of the Justice Department.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, meanwhile, has provoked the ire of several House Republicans, for stating yesterday that he agrees with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)—the two are reportedly close—who said last week that the FBI acted appropriately in using an informant to follow leads about suspected contact between Trump campaign associates and Russia. Ryan argued he saw “no evidence” to back up the President’s claim an informant had been deployed to spy on his campaign for political reasons. According to the Washington Examiner today, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) warned that Ryan’s remarks had sparked a “revolt” against him among conservatives.
