GOP Senate Chairs Grassley and Johnson Demand FBI and Justice Dept. Info on Chalupa

Dec. 9, 2019 (EIRNS)—The Republican U.S. Senate chairmen of the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees, sent a letter in late November to the FBI and Justice Department demanding information on the role of former Democratic National Committee consultant Alexandra Chalupa in seeking dirt from Ukraine on the Trump campaign in 2016, Marianne Levine reported in Politico on Nov. 22. Levine reported that Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) had also made the demand for information to U.S. Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray, citing the 2017 Politico report that Chalupa had met with Ukrainian officials to discuss ties between Russia and President Donald Trump and his 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Both Senators also referenced separate news reports that Chalupa had spoken with the FBI after her email was hacked during the time she worked at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

“If this reporting is accurate,” the Senators wrote, “it appears that the DOJ and FBI have in their possession material relevant to our Committees’ ongoing investigation into collusive actions Chalupa and the DNC took to use foreign government sources to undermine the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.”

Both Senators also sent a letter on Nov. 22 to the National Archives and Records Administration asking for White House records of 2016 meetings between Obama Administration officials, Ukrainian government representatives, and DNC officials.

Since House Democrats’ impeachment efforts rely on evidence that Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, some Republicans have suggested that Ukraine’s government helped Hillary Clinton. In September, Grassley and Johnson requested that Attorney General Bob Barr investigate ties between Ukraine and Ukrainian political operatives.