National Security

House Judiciary chair: Nellie Ohr is cooperating, will testify

by Michael Burke 09/23/18 12:07 PM ET

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said Sunday that Nellie Ohr, the wife of Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, is cooperating with the committee and will testify in October.

“Nellie Ohr is cooperating. We have a date for her appearance before the committee for an interview on Oct. 19,” Goodlatte said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Goodlatte’s comments come after Republicans last week threatened to subpoena Nellie Ohr after a deal fell apart that would have led to her testimony last week.

A Democratic spokesperson from the House Oversight Committee told The Hill last week that Ohr was always cooperating and was surprised by the threat of subpoena.

“We understand from her counsel that she is willing to come in, so any reference to a subpoena was a surprise to us,” the spokesperson told The Hill. “Also, Baker was scheduled to come in and had to reschedule because of a medical issue, but we have no reason to think that he isn’t willing to come in, and there would be no reason to subpoena him either.”

{mosads}The Ohrs have come under GOP scrutiny for their ties to a controversial dossier that makes a series of salacious allegations about President Trump and possible ties between Trump and Russia. Nellie Ohr worked during the presidential campaign for the opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which retained former British spy Christopher Steele to compile the dossier.

Conservatives argue that Bruce Ohr’s ties to Fusion GPS through his wife are evidence that there is a bias against Trump within the DOJ.

Trump last week said he would declassify a series of sensitive documents related to the Russia investigation, including FBI reports of interviews with Bruce Ohr. On Friday, however, he delayed the release of those documents, saying “key allies” raised concerns.

Goodlatte on Sunday said Trump “needs to remain hands-on on this issue.”

“He needs to be personally engaged in overseeing the process by which those documents are declassified,” Goodlatte said.

“We need to have the facts out so that we can decide for ourselves,” he added.

-Updated 2:44 p.m.