Lawyers for Glenn Simpson -- of Fusion GPS, which commissioned the Steele Dossier -- blasting House Republicans in fairly epic terms (imagine the hot hot fire emoji here):
"This Committee’s inquiry is not designed to discover the truth...
"This Committee’s inquiry is not designed to discover the truth...
"The obvious – and at times explicitly stated – goal of this Committee is to discredit and otherwise damage witnesses to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election...
"all as part of an effort to protect a President who has
sought to placate and curry favor with a hostile foreign power and who demands that the Justice Department stop investigating him...
sought to placate and curry favor with a hostile foreign power and who demands that the Justice Department stop investigating him...
"Through its investigation, the Committee has abdicated and indeed perverted its constitutional and traditional role. Rather than probe White House interference with Department of Justice investigations...
"this Committee has instead trained its sights on the refusal of the
Department of Justice to comply with the President’s demands. Such “oversight” reverses longstanding policy, under which Department of Justice investigations are supposed to be...
Department of Justice to comply with the President’s demands. Such “oversight” reverses longstanding policy, under which Department of Justice investigations are supposed to be...
"free from the political influence of the White House....
To help weaken the independence of this Justice Department, the Committee has sought to ruin the reputations of some of the government’s most dedicated and experienced civil servants...
To help weaken the independence of this Justice Department, the Committee has sought to ruin the reputations of some of the government’s most dedicated and experienced civil servants...
"and, in some instances, has deprived our country of their able assistance in the increasingly urgent fight against foreign interference with our democracy...
"For example, this Committee has sought to depict the relationship between Christopher Steele and Bruce Ohr – one of the UK’s top experts on Russia and one of the Justice Department’s leading experts on Russian organized crime – as somehow scandalous...
"when we should all want these two experts to share information in order to make us safer.
No American should be required to participate in efforts to malign and falsely implicate dedicated national security professionals...
No American should be required to participate in efforts to malign and falsely implicate dedicated national security professionals...
"who have served their countries for decades with distinction.
Additionally, this Committee has attempted to prejudge and incriminate our client and his associates ...
Additionally, this Committee has attempted to prejudge and incriminate our client and his associates ...
"by arguing that it is improper for a campaign contractor to report a crime to law enforcement – no matter how egregious the crime, no matter how well qualified the person evaluating the facts...
"and no matter how potentially harmful that crime might be to the integrity of our political system."
Whole thing here: politico.com/f/?id=00000166…
Whole thing here: politico.com/f/?id=00000166…
