(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for all communications from the offices of the Deputy Attorney General and the office of the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force related to Bruce G. Ohr, his wife Nellie Ohr, Christopher Steele, and Fusion GPS (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-01854)). Bruce Ohr is the former Associate Deputy Attorney General and remains Organized Crime Task Force Director.
Until his dossier-related demotion, Bruce Ohr was the fourth-ranked official at DOJ. The House Intelligence Committee memo released by Chairman Devin Nunes on February 2 says that Nellie Ohr was “employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump” and that Bruce Ohr passed the results of that research, which was paid for by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign, to the FBI. The “salacious and unverified” dossier was used to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance warrant to spy on Carter Page.
The suit was filed after the Justice Department failed to respond to a May 29, 2018, FOIA request for:
All records from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.
All records from the office of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce G. Ohr relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Associate Deputy Attorney General Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.
All records from the office of the Director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force relating to Fusion GPS, Nellie Ohr and/or British national Christopher Steele, including but not limited to all records of communications (including those of former Organized Crime Task Force Director Bruce Ohr) about and with Fusion GPS officials, Nellie Ohr and Christopher Steele.
In December 2017, Bruce Ohr was removed from his position as U.S. Associate Deputy Attorney General after it was revealed that he conducted undisclosed meetings with anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steel and Glenn Simpson, principal of Fusion GPS.
In March, Judicial Watch filed two lawsuits seeking records about the Ohrs’ involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. In June, the DOJ was ordered to begin searching and producing Fusion GPS records to Judicial Watch.
In a related case, Judicial Watch released FBI records showing that Steele was cut off as a “Confidential Human Source” after he disclosed his relationship with the FBI to a third party. The documents show at least 11 FBI payments to Steele in 2016 and that he was admonished for unknown reasons in February 2016.
Recently, Republican lawmakers indicated that Bruce Ohr is becoming more central to their investigation. And, newly released emails and memos show that Bruce Ohr continued to receive information from Steele in 2017 after the FBI had terminated its relationship with Steele in 2016 for leaking to the media.
“As this sordid scandal continues to unfold, it is increasingly clear that top DOJ official Bruce Ohr – working in conjunction with his wife and other Clinton-connected Fusion GPS actors – played a key role in laundering false information from Russia about Donald J. Trump,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The DOJ must stop the stonewalling and release these documents as the law requires.”
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Western Division) issued an order granting a Judicial Watch motion to file an amicus curiae brief that asks the court to unseal the depositions of former IRS officials Lois Lerner and Holly Paz. The court also granted a hearing to be held Thursday, August 9, at 1 pm ET.
Both Lerner and Paz played key roles in the targeting of conservative nonprofit groups opposed to Obama policies in the run up to the 2012 presidential election. Their depositions were sealed by a federal judge after Lerner’s and Paz’s lawyers claimed the two were receiving threats. Judicial Watch argues that the testimony transcripts sought may shed light on government misconduct, and the shielding of internal government deliberations does not serve the public’s interest.
Lerner and Paz asked the court to deny Judicial Watch’s December 14, 2017, motion for leave to submit an amicus curiae brief. In January 2018, Judicial Watch filed a reply brief asking the court to accept its amicus curiae brief (NorCal Tea Party Patriots, et al. v. The Internal Revenue Service, et al. (No. 1:13-cv-00341)).
In its August 2018 brief, Judicial Watch points out that it has been at the forefront of the investigation into the IRS’s conduct:
Within days after the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (“TIGTA”) released its report on May 14, 2013 confirming that IRS employees targeted organizations applying for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status with conservative sounding names such as “patriot” and “Tea Party” in their titles, Judicial Watch led the charge and initiated an investigation into the IRS’s conduct toward such organizations. As part of its investigation, Judicial Watch submitted dozens of FOIA requests and since has filed at least nine FOIA lawsuits seeking relevant records from implicated federal agencies.
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In addition to the revelation of IRS employees’ conduct in the emails uncovered, the records obtained by Judicial Watch also sparked investigations into Lois Lerner’s emails and the IRS’s failure to preserve thousands of emails that were potentially relevant to the various investigations headed by Judicial Watch and the U.S. Congress about the IRS’s treatment of conservative groups. While the federal government has now admitted that the targeting “was wrong” and “for such treatment, the IRS expresses its sincere apology,” the IRS continues to withhold email communications to or from Ms. Lerner and/or Ms. Paz….
“Judicial Watch played a central role in uncovering the IRS scandals, in which Lerner and Paz were primary actors. Judicial Watch uncovered 41,100 pages of records. Our work led to the discovery of IRS collusion with the Mueller-run FBI to plan prosecutions of the very groups the Obama IRS was persecuting. Judicial Watch also uncovered the revelation that thousands of Ms. Lerner’s emails were destroyed by the IRS while Judicial Watch’s lawsuits and other investigations were pending,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
According to the court order, “to the extent Defendants Lois Lerner and Holly Paz intend to respond to Judicial Watch’s amicus curiae brief beyond what has already been provided to the Court, Defendants Lois Lerner and Holly Paz will be permitted to make that presentation at the hearing on this matter….” The hearing is scheduled for:
Date: Thursday, August 9, 2018
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Courtroom 109
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Western Division)
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