Graham says he will 'absolutely' call Comey, McCabe to testify in September on Russia probe origins
The Senate Judiciary Committee held an hearing last month with former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said he “absolutely” will call former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to testify before his panel as part of its ongoing investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday night on “Hannity” that he would call on Comey and McCabe to testify before his committee in September.
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“I’ve got three weeks between now and August break,” Graham said. “We’ve done about six interviews.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee held an open hearing last month where former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appeared. The former DOJ official testified that he would not have signed a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewal application for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page had he known about since-revealed “significant errors” in the application.
The committee last month also interviewed Justice Department official Bruce Ohr behind closed doors.
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Ohr, who formerly served as associate deputy attorney general, is one of the dozens of individuals subpoenaed by Graham and the committee in early June as part of their investigation into the Russia probe and the FBI’s alleged abuse of FISA in obtaining warrants to conduct surveillance against Page.
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Ohr was a key contact inside the Justice Department for ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who authored the anti-Trump dossier for research firm Fusion GPS as opposition research for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Ohr’s wife, Nellie Ohr, worked for Fusion GPS at the time.
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A transcript of a closed-door meeting Nellie Ohr had with the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 revealed that she had worked extensively on opposition research for Clinton's campaign, although she largely did not work on the dossier itself.
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Graham’s office declined to share the identities of the other four individuals the committee has interviewed as part of their probe.
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The subpoena authorization approved by the committee last month approved subpoenas for any documents, communications and testimony from current and former officials, including McCabe, Ohr, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, former FBI officials Lisa Page, Peter Strzok, James Baker and Bill Priestap, among others.
Graham plans to hold “multiple, in-depth congressional hearings regarding all things related to Crossfire Hurricane," which was the FBI’s internal code name for the investigation into whether members of the Trump campaign were coordinating with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Mueller's team eventually announced that it found no evidence of coordination.
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The first phase of the panel’s investigation “will deal with the government’s decision to dismiss” the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well as “an in-depth analysis of the unmasking requests made by Obama administration officials against Gen. Flynn.”
Meanwhile, Graham said the second area of inquiry for the committee would take place later this summer and would be focused on FISA abuses outlined by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. Graham said part of his investigation would focus on the FISA warrants obtained against Page.
Graham added that the committee will also look at "whether Robert Mueller should have ever been appointed as special counsel.”
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Fox News' Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.