WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott wrote a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz demanding answers and accountability on the agency’s use of U.S. taxpayer dollars following reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) offered to pay $1 million to Christopher Steele to corroborate and substantiate the salacious claims made in his dossier against former President Donald Trump.

Read the full letter HERE or below.

October 28, 2022

Dear Inspector General Horowitz:

Recent trial testimony elicited by Special Counsel John Durham revealed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in October 2016, offered the author of the infamous Steele Dossier $1 million to corroborate the salacious claims of Russian collusion with members of a presidential campaign.  This is a shocking revelation, not only because it further amplifies the FBI’s egregious abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act using unsubstantiated and uncorroborated information to surveil an American citizen, as well-documented in your own 2019 report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, but also because the sum in question raises serious concerns about the FBI’s allocation of the U.S. taxpayer dollars appropriated to it by Congress. 

I appreciate your dedication to rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse in the U.S. Department of Justice. Americans must be able to have complete confidence in the integrity of our Federal government, including its allocation of U.S. taxpayer monies, and so I respectfully request your written responses to the following questions:

1. What is the source, account, or fund within the FBI’s budget for payments like the $1 million offered to the author of the Steele Dossier to substantiate or corroborate the contents of the report?
1. If such payments are not provided for in the agency’s budget, what is the source of the monies used?

2. What is the process within the FBI for reviewing and approving such payments to outside groups, individuals, or entities as part of its investigative work?
1. Does the FBI track, record, or maintain an accounting of such payments made in a fiscal year?

3. What role, if any, does the Office of the Inspector General have in overseeing the FBI’s payments of federal taxpayer monies to outside groups, individuals, or entities as part of its investigative work?
1. Has your office previously conducted an audit of the FBI’s practices related to payments made to outside groups, individuals, or entities as part of its investigative work?

                                                        i.      If so, when was the last audit conducted?

Given the importance of this issue, I respectfully request your written responses by November 11, 2022.  Thank you, in advance, for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

###