Christopher Steele, left, the former MI6 agent and head of the Russia desk, and Bruce G. Ohr, right, former associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. (Photos: AP/ Global Initiative)
The wife of a high-level Justice Department (DOJ) official who was recently demoted reportedly worked for Fusion GPS through the fall of 2016. The revelation that the shadowy smear firm employed Nellie Ohr, wife of demoted DoJ official Bruce Ohr, was uncovered by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).
“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into all facets of the connections between the Department of Justice and Fusion GPS, including Mr. Ohr,” Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News in a statement.
Mr. Ohr, who was the associate deputy attorney general and director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), was ousted from his office on the fourth floor of “Main Justice.”
While he maintains his title at OCDETF, Mr. Ohr was stripped of associate deputy attorney general after it was revealed he met with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson shortly after the presidential election. The meeting was believed to have been facilitated by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 British Intelligence Officer and research-gatherer for the so-called Trump dossier, otherwise known as the Steele dossier.
DOJ initially did not offer an explanation for Mr. Ohr’s demotion, but later confirmed he had withheld his meetings with and ties to Fusion GPS. Mr. Steele, who notably was the former head of the Russian desk at MI6, almost exclusively used sources linked to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After a year of denying the allegations, a bombshell report recently revealed that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid more than $10 million to fund the dossier. Congressional investigators have long suspected Obama Administration officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DOJ used the unverified dossier as justification to spy on Team Trump.
The nonprofit Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging both the Clinton campaign and the DNC violated campaign finance law by failing to accurately disclose payments for the discredited dossier.
As People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) previously reported, Fusion GPS has been less than cooperative with both the House and Senate committees investigating their role in what appears more likely to be a smear campaign. In a 10-hour long interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Simpson refused to answer lawmakers’ questions.
Congressional sources told PPD Simpson and his lawyer Josh Levy provided thousands of “disrespectful” records to the committee, being that most were blank or press clippings. He also wanted an assurance the transcript would be kept “confidential,” and only made public after they reviewed it for accuracy and redactions were made.
This is the latest in a growing list of politicization stains connected to federal law enforcement agencies and officials allegedly involved in high-profile investigations.
Peter Strzok, a top investigator on the Democrat-dominated team assembled by Special Counsel Robert Mueller III, was fired over the summer before it could be revealed he was sending anti-Trump texts to another government lawyer, with whom he was having an affair. Lisa Page, the lawyer having an affair with Mr. Strzok on the other end of his anti-Trump messages, was also hired and fired by the special counsel.
Mr. Strzok played a key role in changing the memo drafted by fired former FBI director James Comey to exonerate Mrs. Clinton. The language was amendment to change “gross negligence” to “extreme carelessness” to describe her handling of the classified information.
He not only oversaw the interview with Lt. General Michael Flynn that resulted in charges of lying to federal agents but also of Hillary Clinton, which did not. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is under several inspector general investigations for his conduct during and handling of the Clinton email investigation. Mr. McCabe’s wife also gave roughly a half of million dollars to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a top Clinton ally.
