Primary author of GOP memo tried to arrange Steele meeting outside official channels: report

The primary author of the House Intelligence Committee memo released Friday reportedly tried to meet outside official channels with the researcher behind a controversial dossier.

Kashyap Patel, a senior staffer for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), sought a meeting in London with Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent commissioned by opposition research firm Fusion GPS to research the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, according to The New York Times. 

Nunes last summer reportedly sent Patel and another Republican staffer on the committee to meet with Steele at his London office to establish contact with the former agent’s lawyers, but showed up unannounced and were denied the meeting, a senior committee official told The Times. {mosads}

The move was unknown to Democrats and the U.S. Embassy in London, and did not go by the standard protocol of arranging the meeting through attorneys. 

The memo, written largely by Patel, alleges that FBI and Justice Department officials abused their authority in obtaining a surveillance warrant on a former Trump campaign adviser. The memo used the Steele dossier, which contained unverified information on Trump and was paid for in part by Democrats, as key evidence in approving government spying on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. 

Some congressional Republicans have suggested that the memo proves political bias in law enforcement that led to the long-running probe into Russia’s election interference targeting the Trump campaign. 

Nunes led the push to release the GOP memo.