Now can demand 'records and testimony' of many Obama administration officials

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Thursday was given the authority to subpoena dozens of former members of the Obama administration who were involved in the Russia collusion investigation.

The Obama Justice Department's probe of the now-debunked collusion claim, which included illegitimate spying on the Trump campaign, led to the special counsel probe of Robert Mueller, which couldn't find sufficient evidence of collusion.

Johnson has explained that dozens of leaks of national security information fueled the "Russia narrative, first of Russia helping Trump and then, all of a sudden, the Trump campaign colluding with Russia, which set up a special counsel, even though, by the end of January, the FBI knew full, full well that there was nothing to that hoax, that they still allowed a special counsel to be set up in May of that year."

Johnson said it's clear that there was "corruption," and the objective was to "sabotage" the Trump administration.

 

The Washington Examiner reported the vote in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to issue the subpoenas was 8-6, along party lines.

The committee endorsed a plan to "authorize the chairman to issue subpoenas for records and testimony to U.S. government agencies and to individuals relating to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crossfire Hurricane Investigation, the DOJ Inspector General’s review of that investigation, and the ‘unmasking’ of U.S. persons affiliated with the Trump campaign, transition teams, and Trump administration."

Subpoenas also could be delivered to individuals involved in the information leaks.

The Obama administration's Crossfire Hurricane probe of Trump-Russia collusion also is under review by U.S. Attorney John Durham. Sources say it has turned into a criminal investigation.

Johnson said: "America has long been admired for its peaceful transitions of power. However, evidence is mounting that this is not what happened in the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations. The undisputed examples that support that statement include the fact that the DNC and the Clinton campaign paid for fabricated foreign research, the Steele Dossier, that was used to instigate an FBI investigation against the Trump campaign and obtain FISA warrants."

The Examiner said Johnson wants to check into the "use of confidential human sources to target the Trump campaign, the 17 'significant errors or omissions' found by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz, and the FBI's 'misuse of transition briefings for investigative purposes.'"

Also under scrutiny is former FBI counterintelligence investigator Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who showed their animosity toward Trump and their intent to prevent him from winning the election in text messages to each.

Democrats on the committee oppose the investigation.

Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said he wanted to review more information before authorizing subpoenas.

But Johnson said it's time, citing "the declassification of footnotes in Horowitz’s report that the FBI was aware that Steele’s dossier may have compromised by Russian disinformation, revelations about the 'unmaskings' by Obama administration officials, new evidence unearthed in the case against Flynn showing the FBI had not found any derogatory information against him as of early January 2017, and the release of House Intelligence Committee witness transcripts showing top Obama officials didn’t have any direct evidence of Trump-Russia collusion."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also is seeking authority to obtain testimony of Obama administration officials involved in the investigation.

https://www.wnd.com/2020/06/senator-given-authority-subpoena-collusion-investigators/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=wnd-breaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=breaking