How Bruce Ohr Could Implicate High-Ranking Obama Officials In Spygate

The FBI/Fusion GPS Connection...

Reporting on Bruce Ohr suggests DOJ and FBI employees operated outside the chain of command and concealed evidence from congressional oversight committees.

Investigative reporter John Solomon broke news last week of texts and emails between former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr and Trump dossier author Christopher Steele regarding the Russia investigation, and revealed the content of notes Ohr took during a December meeting with Steele’s boss at Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson.

Solomon’s reporting confirmed the FBI used Ohr to continue gathering information from Steele, even after the former British spy was terminated as a source by the bureau because he leaked word of the investigation to the press. Ohr’s role as a conduit allowed the FBI to continue to use Steele as an indirect source, even after Trump was elected and inaugurated.

Ohr lost his high-ranking slot at the Department of Justice in December 2017, when the Trump administration learned of his connection to Steele, and with it his office just doors away from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. He briefly retained a high-ranking position as the director of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, but was demoted a second time in January 2018. He still works for the DOJ, but no longer holds a top leadership position.

Rep. Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), said last week Ohr “is going to become more and more important” to the investigation into the DOJ’s use of Steele’s dossier on Trump to obtain permission to spy on his former campaign advisor, Carter Page. That’s the understatement of the year.

The details revealed in the emails and texts, in conjunction with previously released information, suggest DOJ and FBI employees operated outside the chain of command, misled their bosses (and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court), and concealed evidence from congressional oversight committees. Let’s review two key questions the revelations raise.
1. How and why was Rosenstein kept in the dark?

Rosenstein was Ohr’s boss prior to his demotion, yet Rosenstein claims he knew nothing of Ohr’s involvement in the Russia investigation. Rosenstein declared to Congress in a letter reviewed by Solomon that he was “unaware of Ohr’s activities with Steele,” that Ohr was “not assigned” to the Russia investigation, and that Ohr “was not in the chain of command.” Rosenstein added, “Any involvement Mr. Ohr had in this matter was without my knowledge.”

Solomon’s reporting is consistent with Rosenstein’s congressional testimony. On June 28, Rosenstein told the House Judiciary Committee that “Ohr was never working to my knowledge on that Russian investigation.” He reiterated the point a second time, saying, “To my knowledge he wasn’t working on the Russian matter.”

Significantly, Rosenstein also testified that he did not know of Ohr’s connection to...Read More HERE