Trump touts report Warner attempted to talk to dossier author

President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday night to tout a Fox News report that Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) attempted to make contact with the author of the controversial dossier linking Trump to Russia.

“Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch,” Trump tweeted. “Warner did not want a ‘paper trail’ on a ‘private’ meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.”

Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a “paper trail” on a “private” meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 8, 2018

Fox News reported earlier in the evening that Warner had “extensive contact” last year with lobbyist Adam Waldman, whose firm reportedly also has ties to former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was seeking to establish contact with the author of the dossier, Christopher Steeler, as part of the Senate panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

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Warner exchanged text messages with Waldman, who worked as a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch, about making contact with Steele, according to the Fox News report.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who also sits on the Intelligence Committee, dismissed the report in a tweet Thursday, noting that Warner “fully disclosed” the contacts to the committee and saying they had “zero impact” on the committee’s investigation. 

Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work. https://t.co/bnmI2Thedt #FoxNews

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 8, 2018

The Senate Intelligence Committee is one of several congressional panels probing Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, said in January that “extraordinarily important” new documents had been obtained by the committee in its ongoing probe.

“We’ve had new information that raises more questions,” he said last month.