Letter to the Hon. Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee - Share Transcripts With Mueller

Letter

Dear Chairman Grassley:

Senate Judiciary Committee staff has conducted several interviews with participants in the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, including with Donald Trump, Jr. It is our understanding that the Committee has not shared transcripts of these interviews with the Special Counsel's Office (SCO), despite the investigative relevance of their contents to that Office. It is also our understanding that the Committee has agreed in principle, with the Minority's support, to permit the SCO to review those transcripts after reasonable accommodations for witnesses to review them and to correct errata. Given that the transcripts in question are now all final, we request that you make them available immediately to Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his staff.

In light of your recent referral of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation based on "statements the Committee has reason to believe Mr. Steele made," sharing Committee transcripts with the SCO is appropriate and overdue. The press release your office issued when making the referral public states that "[i]t is the practice of the committee to notify the Justice Department whenever it comes across what appears to be credible evidence of a criminal violation that warrants further investigation by appropriate authorities based on information from any source, public or non-public." The transcripts of congressional testimony may reveal other, and better-founded, concerns about witness false statements.

Presumably Steele's statements were made to the Department's own investigators, considering the statute you referenced. It remains unclear to us what law enforcement objective was advanced by sharing information -- particularly classified material -- with the Department that originated and classified it. In the case of the interview transcripts -- unlike your Steele referral -- the Committee actually has information relevant to the Special Counsel's investigation that is not otherwise available to the SCO.

You have stated publicly that you believe it is important for the Special Counsel to carry his investigation through to completion and determine the facts. It is hard to see how withholding the transcripts achieves that goal. We urge you to take immediate steps to resolve this inconsistency.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

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