The Justice Department will give the House Intelligence Committee reams of documents and text messages related to the Trump-Russia collusion investigation, as well as allow interviews with key investigators, including Peter Strzok, who wrote disparaging emails about Trump to a colleague and suggested an "insurance policy" against a Trump victory.
Panel Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday to outline the deal. Nunes has pursued the information for months and threatened a contempt of Congress charge against both Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray after they refused to turn over the information.
Wray and Rosenstein came to Capitol Hill yesterday, where they met with Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., after requesting a meeting to discuss the matter.
Nunes had given Rosenstein and Wray a deadline of Jan. 3 to turn over the material or else face contempt charges.
According to the letter from Nunes to Rosenstein outlining the agreement, many of the documents will be handed over Friday and the witnesses will appear before the intelligence panel this month.
In addition to Strzok, the list includes former Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, whose wife was hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS to investigate Trump during his 2016 presidential run. Fusion GPS hired British intelligence official Christoper Steele who produced the unverified "Trump dossier" that made disturbing claims about Trump and his ties to Russia.
The list of witnesses who must appear be for the House Intelligence Committee also includes former FBI general counsel James Baker, FBI attorney Lisa Page, who was Strzok's colleague and alleged mistress, and FBI attorney Sally Moyer, among others.
Rosenstein also agreed to turn over all emails sent between Strzok and Page by Jan. 11, Nunes said in the letter.
"The materials we are requesting are vital to the committees investigation of potential abuses into intelligence and law enforcement agencies handling of the Christopher Steele dossier," Nunes wrote to Rosenstein. "The committee is extremely concerned by indications that top U.S. government officials who were investigating a presidential campaign relied on unverified information that was funded by the the opposing political campaign and was based on Russian sources."
