Here's the question before us: did our government spy on a candidate for President based on opposition information funded by his opponent's campaign?
It's a (maybe) unexpected turn in the investigation into Russian meddling in the election. Democrats have long hoped that the investigation would reveal that the Trump campaign worked with Russia on efforts to ensure that Hillary Clinton would not become President.
Instead, questions have been raised on whether an investigation of a candidate running for President was initiated by our government based on a dossier contained unproven salacious details about Donald Trump. The ultimate twist in the narrative would occur if that information was provided BY Russia and ultimately leaked to the media in an attempt to influence the election.
Two top Republican senators have formally recommended that the Justice Department and FBI investigate the author of the controversial anti-Trump “dossier,” in the first known criminal referral from Congress as part of lawmakers’ Russia probes.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., made the referral in a Jan. 4-dated letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
...The dossier was authored by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, who was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS. In their letter, the GOP lawmakers cited potential violations for false statements “the Committee has reason to believe Mr. Steele made regarding his distribution of information contained in the dossier.”
They cited communications with “multiple U.S. news outlets.”