INTELLIGENCE/LEGAL/RUSSIA: “The House Intelligence Committee on Thursday [1-18-18] voted to release the transcript of its interview with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, with Democrats and Republicans joining together in a move likely to shed new light on the opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia.
The committee voted in a closed-door meeting to release the transcript, which Simpson himself and the panel’s top Democrat had pushed for over the past month. The vote was unanimous, committee member Rep. Denny Heck told CNN.
With the vote, the House panel will be second committee to make the details of Simpson’s interview public. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, last week released the transcript of Simpson’s August Senate Judiciary Committee interview without the consent of Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
Simpson’s interviews have emerged as a significant element of the Russia investigation thanks to the political fight over the dossier on Trump and Russia compiled by ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele.
Republicans have charged the Steele dossier is a political document that wound up in the hands of the FBI after being paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, both of whom paid Fusion GPS for the research through law firm Perkins Coie.
But Simpson argued in his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony that Steele was acting on his own accord out of concern for national security when he went to the FBI with the dossier.”
-Jeremy Herb and Manu Raju, “House intelligence panel votes to release transcript from Fusion GPS co-founder interview,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Jan. 18, 2018 11:11am