Dem. Sen. texted with Russian lobbyist to try connecting with Chris Steele

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee has been leading the congressional investigation into President Trump's alleged ties to Russia. 

Fox News has learned that Warner had "extensive contact last year with Adam Waldman, who runs the Endeavor Group in Washington and is a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Waldman was offering the Virginia senator access to former British spy and dossier author Christopher Steele," as evidenced from text messages obtained exclusively by Fox News.

Warner texted Waldman, whose firm has ties to Hillary Clinton, on March 22, 2017:

"We have so much to discuss u need to be careful but we can help our country."

Waldman's response:

"I'm in."

It was Christopher Steele who put the anti-Trump unverified dossier together that was used by FBI and DoJ officials in October 2016 to get a FISA warrant to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, a former Trump adviser and possibly an idiot. Steele, however, has not agreed to allow an interview with the committee.

Apparently, Warner didn't want anyone else on the committee to know about his conversations with Waldman. On March 29, Waldman told the senator that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter from Warner and the committee's chairman Sen Richard Burr (R-NC) inviting him to speak with the Senate Intelligence panel.

But Warner's communications showed his intention of keeping the rest of the panel out of the loop, at least initially, ostensibly because he'd "rather not have a paper trail" of his messages.

Fox News was told by a Warner aide that the messages are authentic and are all marked "CONFIDENTIAL" but are not classified. They were obtained from a Republican source and turned over to the Senate panel by Waldman last September.

Waldman is known for signing a $40,000 monthly retainer in 2009 and 2010 to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of Russian billionaire Oleg V. Deripaska, who had his visa revoked by the State Department in 2006. The reason for his action was due to charges that he has organized crime ties which he denies, but so did the Clintons.

An aide to Burr told Fox News that Burr knew of the "contact" Warner made with Steele's representative but added, "I don't believe he was aware of the content of the text messages" initially.

Burr and Warner released a joint statement stressing they are working together, and they slammed the "leaks of incomplete information."

"From the beginning of our investigation we have taken each step in a bipartisan way, and we intend to continue to do so," their statement read. "Leaks of incomplete information out of context by anyone, inside or outside our committee, are unacceptable."

For more on this story by Fox News and the communications between Warner and Waldman go here. 

It's delicious.

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Developing: Comey will go public in Intel Committee testimony

Developing -- Former FBI Director James Comey has agreed to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee (an oxymoron if ever there was one) in open session sometime after Memorial Day. 

The committee's chairman Senator Richard Burr (his friends call him "Ironsides") and Senator Mark Warner, the rank Democrat, announced Friday that Mr. Comey will testify before the committee in an open setting with a date not yet set.

Burr hopes Comey's testimony will implicate the Democratic Party in the Russian probe, while Warner is hoping for a presidential impeachment followed by an old fashioned hanging.

Burr explained that the committee hopes to hear about Comey's role in the development of the U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment regarding the Russian interference in last year's election (that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denies). He hopes Comey's testimony will answer some of the questions that have surfaced since he was suddenly fired by President Trump.

This news comes after reports in the "failed" New York Times and Washington Post about the fallout over the Comey firing and the inquiry into the Russian role on the election as well as possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

The Times reported that Trump told the Russians that Comey was a "nut job" whose firing relieved "great pressure" on him. For more on the Times  story, go here. 

Without factual evidence of Trump's alleged statement about Comey's status as a nut job, Rep. Elijah Cummings, (D-MD) said the comment by the President was "astonishing and extremely troubling," while the factual evidence of Hillary Clinton's private and illegal server was just another day at the office.

Cummings may have been a true civil rights leader back in the day, but today he's nothing short of an empty lunchbox.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named Special Counsel for the Russian investigation regarding their involvement in our presidential campaign last year.

Mueller, a good friend of James Comey, is expected to be impartial. (LOL)


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