A newly declassified FBI memo revealed that Nellie Ohr, a researcher for opposition research firm Fusion GPS, provided “demonstrably false” testimony to Congress in 2018 about her involvement in the Trump-Russia investigation, including her communications with Justice Department officials during the 2016 election.
The 2019 internal FBI analysis, made public Wednesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, found that Ohr falsely denied having knowledge of ongoing DOJ investigations and denied sharing her research with anyone outside Fusion GPS, including with her husband Bruce Ohr, then a deputy associate attorney general under President Barack Obama.
On May 3, 2019, the FBI was assigned to review a congressional criminal referral from then-Representative Mark Meadows alleging Ohr made false statements during her testimony to lawmakers, a violation of Section 1001 of U.S. Code.
The FBI analysis concluded that the investigation “established the fact that Nellie Ohr provided demonstrably false information in two aspects of her testimony and that she may have provided false testimony in other regard.”
“Whether this false testimony might lead to a viable 1001 charge is for the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) to determine,” the analysis continued.
The 43-page FBI document from September 2019 revealed that Nellie Ohr’s private communications contradict her sworn testimony before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees in October 2018. These communications occurred primarily between April and August 2016, during the height of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation, which officially began on July 31, 2016.
Fusion GPS was hired by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in April 2016 to conduct opposition research on Trump’s alleged ties to Russia. That same month, Nellie Ohr began emailing her husband and other DOJ contacts about her research.
On April 11, 2016, she wrote to DOJ prosecutors, “I enjoyed talking with [DOJ prosecutors] and am thinking about potential future conversations.” The FBI memo confirmed that Nellie Ohr provided a thumb drive filled with Fusion GPS research to Bruce Ohr, who then passed it on to the FBI.
Evidence assembled by the FBI indicates that Ohr helped compile two dossiers that helped launch the Crossfire Hurricane investigation: the notorious file pushed by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele and an “Alfa” dossier. The Fusion GPS research repeated errors or included information similar to that discovered later in the Steele dossier.
On July 6, 2016, Nellie Ohr flagged an article to Bruce Ohr highlighting a quote: “If Putin wanted to concoct the ideal candidate to service his purposes, his laboratory creation would look like Donald Trump.”
Bruce and Nellie Ohr personally met Christopher Steele at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on July 30, 2016, one day before Crossfire Hurricane officially began. During this meeting, they discussed allegations that Trump campaign aide Carter Page had met with Russian officials and that Kremlin intelligence had the Republican candidate “over a barrel.”
Ohr also sent emails directly to DOJ prosecutors, some of which she later deleted, and did not admit to interacting with all prosecutors during her subsequent congressional testimony.
The FBI found there was “little distinction” between the couple’s professional and personal lives.
“There is probable cause to believe that Bruce and Nellie did communicate with each other about their respective activity in furtherance of the Russia-collusion investigations and/or narrative,” the FBI document stated.
While the Ohrs invoked spousal privilege before Congress regarding whether they discussed the Trump-Russia probe, the declassified files reveal the extent of their coordination.
In one email exchange about a possible DOJ interview, Bruce Ohr wrote to his wife: “Hi honey! I trust you are okay with this? Love, B.” She responded: “Sure! Cool.”
The couple’s close collaboration raised concerns inside the FBI, particularly as Bruce Ohr became a backchannel between Fusion GPS source Christopher Steele and federal law enforcement after the FBI cut off Steele in November 2016.
Nellie Ohr told Congress she purchased a ham radio for emergency communications “well before” working at Fusion GPS, but the FBI determined she took classes on how to use it during her time with the firm in mid-2016, suggesting an intent to communicate off-grid.
Despite the FBI’s findings that Nellie Ohr lied to Congress, the Justice Department did not bring charges against her. However, in November 2019, the department did secure the conviction of Trump ally Roger Stone for lying to congressional investigators during their probe.
Grassley blasted the Justice Department for its inaction, calling it evidence of “deeply disturbing political bias.”
“The DOJ’s inaction on Nellie Ohr’s criminal referral – despite the obviously incriminating evidence provided in the FBI’s own analysis – undermines public trust in the rule of law,” Grassley said in a statement.
“Ohr never suffered consequences for advancing the phony Trump-Russia narrative and attempting to cover up her involvement in the hoax,” Grassley continued. “Yet time and again, the American justice system has been weaponized against President Trump and his associates with reckless abandon.”
Grassley, who has led years-long oversight efforts into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, accused the FBI and DOJ under past presidents of “obstructive conduct” in stalling efforts to gather more evidence.
The senator thanked FBI Director Kash Patel, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for declassifying the bureau’s internal investigative findings.
Fusion GPS’s research culminated in the now-discredited Steele dossier, a central document in Crossfire Hurricane that was shared with top Obama officials and several journalists in late 2016.
Bruce Ohr was demoted twice during the Trump administration and resigned from his DOJ role before he could be fired in October 2020, following a disciplinary referral about his conduct from Inspector General Michael Horowitz.