Republicans believe that the Department of Justice and the FBI may have evidence of efforts into alleged “collusive actions” taken by the Democrats with Ukrainian officials to undermine the candidacy of Donald Trump in 2016. But a Democratic senator is discouraging the DOJ and the FBI from turning over that evidence.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who is chair of the Finance Committee and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) who is chair of the Homeland Security Committee sent a letter to the Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray in November asking for relevant material and asking for the FBI interview notes [of an interview with woman who spoke to Ukranian officials about Manafort].
“If this reporting is accurate, it appears that the DOJ and FBI have in their possession material relevant to our Committees’ ongoing investigation into collusive actions Chalupa* and the DNC took to use foreign government sources to undermine the Trump campaign during the 2016 election,” Grassley and Johnson wrote. The Senate Republicans also sought interviews with Chalupa and others connected to the alleged collusion effort.
But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) tried to head that off at the pass, with his own letter to Barr and Wray asking that they not turn over the information, calling the request “outrageous,” attacking the reports the Republicans cited and claiming their request raised privacy issues.
