Graham Announces Vote on Subpoenas for Obama-Era Officials

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on June 4 as part of its oversight of the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at the CPAC convention in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 28, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced on Monday that the committee will debate and vote on a subpoena authorization for 53 top Obama administration officials, as part of its FISA abuse investigation and oversight of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation.

Graham’s office announced in a statement that the subpoena authorization covers “a number of documents, communications and testimony from witnesses,” including former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and others.

The latest announcement comes just days after Graham announced on May 14 that his Committee will “begin holding multiple, in-depth congressional hearings regarding all things related to Crossfire Hurricane starting in early June.”

The subpoena authorization is first on the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s executive business meeting on May 21, and the committee is scheduled to vote on the matter at its executive business meeting on June 4.

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee cannot singlehandedly issue a subpoena, according the committee’s rules. He can only issue a subpoena with the consent of the ranking member—in this case Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)—or by a majority committee vote in favor of the subpoena authorization.

Graham is seeking authorization to subpoena documents, communications, and testimony of any individual referenced in the report issued by the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz in December 2019. The report found that the four warrant applications the FBI used to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page have “17 significant errors or omissions.”

Crossfire Hurricane is the FBI’s codename for its counterintelligence investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Those allegations have since been disproven.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed as a special counsel in May 2017 to take over the FBI’s investigation. After 22 months, Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to establish that Trump or his campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.

Graham is also seeking materials related to “any current or former executive branch official or employee” involved in the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, including reports prepared by former British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele, also referred to as the “Steele dossier.”

The FISA warrant applications used by the FBI to spy on Page featured claims from the Steele dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the Perkins Coie law firm.

The 53 witnesses covered by Graham’s subpoena authorization are:  Trisha Anderson, Brian Auten, James Baker, William Barr, Dana Boente, Jennifer Boone, John Brennan, James Clapper, Kevin Clinesmith, James Comey, Patrick Conlon, Michael Dempsey, Stuart Evans, Tashina Gauhar, Carl Ghattas, Curtis Heide, Kathleen Kavalec, David Laufman, Stephen Laycock, Jacob Lew, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Mary McCord, Denis McDonough, Arthur McGlynn, Jonathan Moffa, Sally Moyer, Mike Neufield, Sean Newell, Victoria Nuland, Bruce Ohr, Nellie Ohr, Stephanie L. O’Sullivan, Lisa Page, Joseph Pientka, John Podesta, Samantha Power, E.W. “Bill” Priestap, Sarah Raskin, Steve Ricchetti, Susan Rice, Rod Rosenstein, Gabriel Sanz-Rexach, Nathan Sheets, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Glenn Simpson, Steve Somma, Peter Strzok, Michael Sussmann, Adam Szubin, Jonathan Winer, Christopher Wray, and Sally Yates.