GOP senators request criminal investigation of Trump dossier author

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Hill

Two Republican senators are asking the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Christopher Steele, the author of a controversial opposition research dossier on President Trump. 

Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray asking that they investigate if the former British intelligence agent lied to federal authorities. 

"I don’t take lightly making a referral for criminal investigation. But, as I would with any credible evidence of a crime unearthed in the course of our investigations, I feel obliged to pass that information along to the Justice Department for appropriate review,” Grassley said in a statement. 

Graham added that "after reviewing how Mr. Steele conducted himself in distributing information contained in the dossier and how many stop signs the DOJ ignored in its use of the dossier, I believe that a special counsel needs to review this matter."

The letter is the first known criminal referral from any of the congressional investigations into Russia's election interference.

As part of their request, the two senators passed along a memo tied to "certain communications between Christopher Steele and multiple U.S. news outlets." They did not publicly release the memorandum, which is classified. 

The referral is the latest sign of partisan splintering of the Judiciary Committee's wide-ranging investigation into Russia, the 2016 election and potential political interference of the FBI. 

________

Going after the real collusion.