Washington, Jan 6 (IANS): Two Republican senators have called for the investigation of Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer who compiled a dossier on alleged collusion between US President Donald Trump's election campaign and Russia.
In a letter to the Justice Department on Friday, Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham claimed there was reason to believe that Steele had misled US authorities over his contacts with journalists and called for him to be investigated, reports the Guardian.
The letter, the first criminal referral from Congress since it started investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, comes at a time when Republicans are seeking to divert those investigations from scrutinising Trump's links to Russia to focus instead on whistleblowers, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
It was unclear from the letter what Steele is alleged to have done. Most of the content was classified and only the cover letter was released.
Steele, a former MI6 officer, disclosed his meetings with journalists in the US in court filings last year and he was never formally interviewed by the FBI. He cooperated with the bureau informally.
A lawyer for GPS Fusion, the political research firm which hired Steele to carry out his investigation, issued a statement casting doubt on the motives behind the Grassley-Graham letter, reports the Guardian.
"After a year of investigations into Trump's ties to Russia, the only person Republicans seek to accuse of wrongdoing is one who reported on these matters to law enforcement in the first place," the lawyer, Joshua Levy, wrote.
"Publicising a criminal referral based on classified information raises serious questions about whether this letter is nothing more than another attempt to discredit government sources, in the midst of an ongoing criminal investigation. We should all be sceptical in the extreme."
Last month, it was reported that the House intelligence committee was rushing to conclude its inquiry into the matter, prompting complaints from Democrats that Republicans on the panel were ignoring leads that could help provide a more complete portrait of Russian interference in the election.