Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said he plans to subpoena the FBI’s former head of counterintelligence as part of his investigation into the Russia-Gate hoax.
Bill Priestap was a ringleader in the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
He allegedly lied to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2018 about the reliability of ex-spy Christopher Steele, whose reports—commissioned by the dossier, according to Graham.
Republicans have been trying to bring him back before the Senate since then, but Priestap thus far has refused, Graham added.
Graham’s committee was supposed to interview Priestap last week, but “his lawyer contacted us and put conditions on the interview that are unacceptable,” Graham told Fox News this weekend. “So I’m going to subpoena him.”
Graham said he wants to get to the bottom of Priestap’s 2018 testimony and find out what he did and did not know about the notorious Steele Dossier, .
“I don’t know what Mr. Priestap did or didn’t do, but I know the briefing given to the Intel Committee was an absolute lie about the reliability of the subsource,” he said.
“It does sound to me like there was an effort to mislead the Senate Intel Committee,” he continued. “If they had told the Senate Intel Committee the truth about the reliability of the subsource, it would expose their lie to the FISA court.”
Graham was referencing a couple of recently declassified documents that prove that the FBI knew Steele’s dossier was highly questionable.
Steele’s main subsource even questioned Steele’s reporting when asked by FBI officials if what Steele had alleged was true. But because of “dirty cops” like Priestap, the FBI moved forward with the Russia-Gate investigation anyways.
Priestap, who had been the assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division from December 2015 to December 2018, made the actual authorization of the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s campaign.
He was also the FBI official who was caught creating a perjury trap for retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
