Politics

Another GOP Senator Says He’ll Vote Yes On Releasing Dossier Testimony Transcript

Youtube screen grab

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

The odds that the public will soon learn more about the Trump dossier increased dramatically this week after a Republican senator said he would vote in favor of releasing a transcript of a Senate interview with the opposition researcher who compiled the salacious document.

A spokesman for Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch says that the Senate Judiciary Committee member will likely vote in favor of releasing a transcript of an interview conducted last week between committee staffers and Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of Fusion GPS.

Hatch becomes the second Republican to publicly indicate that he will support releasing a transcript of the interview, which lasted 10 hours and is expected to contain new information about the dossier and the Trump-Russia probe. (RELATED: Fusion GPS Founder Refuses To Identify Dossier Clients In Marathon Senate Session)

“Senator Hatch, like Chairman Grassley, believes we should make as much public as possible, and as soon as we can. Barring additional and unexpected developments (such as, for example, a new, bonafide assertion of privilege or the unanticipated discovery of a need for additional interviewing to provide greater context before release), he would vote in favor,” Matt Whitlock, a spokesman for Hatch, told The Daily Caller.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow first reported Hatch’s position on the transcript release.

Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, is a key figure in the ongoing investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. That’s because, despite the fact that some parts of the dossier have been debunked, the 35-page document has been used by the FBI as part of the basis of the collusion investigation.

That investigation spurred three congressional probes on Russia-related matters. The Senate Judiciary Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee and House Intelligence Committee are also investigating the issue.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is currently leading the federal investigation into collusion.

After Simpson’s marathon interview, his attorney, Josh Levy, issued a statement calling on the committee to release a transcript of the session. Levy also said that Fusion GPS stands by the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Fusion GPS hired Steele last June to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia. The firm was initially hired to investigate Trump in Sept. 2015 by a Republican donor who opposed Trump. After Trump won the GOP primary, that client left the project and an ally of Hillary Clinton’s stepped in to continue the investigation. That’s when Steele was hired.

Grassley has led the push on Capitol Hill to reveal details about the dossier and Fusion GPS. Because Fusion GPS was working on behalf of political clients, Grassley has expressed concern that the dossier was used by the FBI. He has also questioned whether the bureau paid Steele, a former MI6 agent, to investigate Trump.

Given Fusion’s support for releasing a transcript of the interview, the nine Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are expected to also support the release. If Hatch and Grassley also vote in favor of releasing the transcript, a majority of the committee would be in favor of the measure.

In a town hall meeting in Iowa last week, Grassley said that he would likely vote in favor of making the transcript public.

Follow Chuck on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel