Four Senate Republicans seek special counsel to probe FBI's by using Steele dossier

Four Republicans for the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday sought the appointment of the second special counsel to support the Department of Justice inspector general in probing the FBI’s utilization of the so-called Steele dossier in its surveillance of your former Trump campaign aide.

The Judiciary panel’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), was accompanied by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in requesting that DOJ name a particular prosecutor to zero in on possible mishandling on the FBI’s Russia investigation before the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Specifically, the quartet raised concerns around the FBI’s relationship with Christopher Steele, who compiled a dossier of verified and unverified intelligence alleging a Russian effort to compromise now-President Mr . trump.

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Grassley and Graham, who previously requested that your DOJ open a criminal probe of Steele’s conduct, on Feb. 28 asked DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz to probe the department’s handling of investigations into Trump transition or campaign officials, as well as the Trump administration before Mueller’s appointment. Horowitz has long been investigating possible DOJ misconduct relevant to the Hillary Clinton email investigation since early 2017.

The Republican senators noted of their Thursday letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that under current law, "the Inspector General doesn’t have the tools that any prosecutor would to get together all the facts, for example the ability to obtain testimony from essential witnesses that aren’t current DOJ employees."

"Thus, we believe that the special counsel must help the Inspector General to independently gather the important points and earn prosecutorial decisions, if any are merited," the Republicans continued. "The Justice Department cannot credibly investigate itself without these enhanced measures of independence to make certain that the population might have confidence inside the outcome."

Sessions currently is weighing whether they should call heed an indoor recommendation to terminate Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director whom House Republicans say testified in December than a warrant to monitor former Trump campaign aide Carter Page do not need been sought without the presence of Steele dossier. (House Democrats have disputed that characterization of McCabe’s testimony.)

If McCabe seriously isn’t fired, he’s scheduled to retire from DOJ on Sunday. Another central player within the dossier timeline is Bruce Ohr, merely recently demoted coming from a top DOJ post.