Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wants to know whether the FBI used the author of a dossier on President Donald Trump to indirectly gather intelligence as it conducts its Russia investigation.
Grassley sent a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray this week, asking how the bureau handled the information in the dossier and its author, former British spy Christopher Steele.
After pointing out that the dossier was sent to the British government, Grassley wrote:
"Media reports have also claimed that foreign governments passed along information to the United States about purported contacts between Trump associates and Russians. Given that Mr. Steele also distributed the dossier's contents to at least one foreign government, it is possible that this political dossier's collusion allegations, or related allegations originating via Mr. Steele, may have also been surreptitiously funneled into U.S. intelligence streams through foreign intelligence sharing.
"If so, that foreign information would likely have ended up within the FBI's investigation of allegations of collusion between Trump associates and Russia."
Grassley then explained how the committee he chairs would like to know if the FBI ensured that intelligence it may have received regarding Trump and reports that he or his campaign colluded with the Russians did not ultimately come from Steele, either directly or indirectly.
"The Committee must understand what steps the FBI has taken to ensure that any foreign information it received and used in the Russia investigation, beyond the dossier itself, was not ultimately sourced to Mr. Steele, his associates such as Fusion GPS, or his sub-sources," the letter reads.
The FBI, Grassley's committee, and several other congressional panels are investigating claims that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, investigations that include looking at Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election last year.