At the same time the House Intelligence Committee has been looking into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, a subset of Republicans who believe there is corruption at the Department of Justice and FBI have been meeting in secret, Politico reports.
Led by committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), their goal is to prove that the DOJ and FBI have mishandled the contents of the dossier that reports ties between President Trump and Russia, four people familiar with the plan told Politico. Some of the allegations in the dossier have been verified and others have not; it has not been discredited, despite Republican claims. Democrats have not been notified of these get-togethers, and it's unclear how many people are participating.
The Republicans apparently suspect the FBI and Justice Department actively tried to hurt Trump and assist Hillary Clinton, Politico reports, and they are hoping to have a report compiled early next year spelling out their concerns. What really set them off, people told Politico, was that the Justice Department refused to detail ways the dossier was used to launch an FBI investigation into the Trump campaign. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team while on Capitol Hill last week, and Democrats say the closer his investigation gets to the White House, the more vocal Trump's allies become.
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