A series of emails between Nellie and Bruce Ohr reveal the possibility that Clinton-funded opposition research was being funneled to the Justice Department during the 2016 election through a “back-door marital channel,” according to John Solomon of the Hill.
The emails were released through a Freedom of Information Act request to Judicial Watch and are now raising concerns among some lawmakers.
According to the report, the newly released emails reveal Ohr sent her DOJ official husband open source intelligence. In some instances, she also sent it to at least three other DOJ officials: Lisa Holtyn, Ivana Nizich and Joseph Wheatley.
In one example, Ohr emailed her husband on July 6, 2016 and wrote, “Hi Honey, if you ever get a moment you might find the penultimate article interesting — especially the summary in the final paragraph.”
The paragraph she flagged suggested that Trump was Putin’s puppet: “If Putin wanted to concoct the ideal candidate to service his purposes, his laboratory creation would look like Donald Trump.”
Solomon writes, “Such overt political content flowing into the email accounts of a DOJ charged with the nonpartisan mission of prosecuting crimes is jarring enough. It raises additional questions about potential conflicts of interest when it is being injected by a spouse working as a Democratic contractor trying to defeat Trump, and she is forwarding her own research to his department and co-workers.”
Other information Ohr sent her husband include articles and academic research that Solomon says “would later surface as evidence of alleged collusion between Trump and Russia.”
This includes:
- then-Russian ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak attended an April 2016 foreign policy speech by Trump. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions eventually was forced to recuse himself from the Russia investigation as attorney general in part because he met Kislyak at that speech;
- then-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page gave a July 2016 speech in Moscow. Nellie Ohr bolded a passage in the article noting Page’s company “continues to work with Russian investments” and included someone tied to the Russian energy giant GazProm.
The newest emails have Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) questioning the accuracy of Ohr’s October 2018 congressional testimony.
“If Ms. Ohr used her time at the opposition research firm to place information directly in the hands of investigators, it would be a severe conflict of interest,” Meadows told Solomon. “Contrary to Ms. Ohr’s congressional testimony, it appears that she funneled research gathered during her time at Fusion GPS directly to the DOJ. A draft of a criminal referral for giving false testimony to Congress is currently being reviewed.”
For the full report, click HERE.
