Two top Republican senators are signaling that the intelligence community's top watchdog should probe potential "leaks" to reporters after the 2016 presidential election about the investigation into Russia's election meddling and President Trump
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Donald TrumpSouth Carolina Senate adds firing squad as alternative execution method Ex-Trump aide Pierson won't run for Dallas-area House seat House Oversight panel reissues subpoena for Trump's accounting firm MORE's campaign. Sens. Ron Johnson
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Ronald (Ron) Harold JohnsonJuan Williams: Hypocrisy runs riot in GOP Graham: Trump will 'be helpful' to all Senate GOP incumbents Partisan headwinds threaten Capitol riot commission MORE (R-Wis.) and Chuck GrassleyChuck GrassleyFBI director faces lawmaker frustration over Capitol breach Padilla has 'big Chuck Taylors to fill' in replacing Harris Judiciary Committee greenlights Garland's AG nomination MORE (R-Iowa) — the chairmen of the Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees, respectively — sent a letter on Monday to Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, asking if his office was investigating "apparent leaks" from the intelligence agencies. "Texts and emails demonstrate the need to investigate leaks from agencies or entities other than FBI," the two senators wrote in their letter.
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If an investigation isn't ongoing, the two senators want an explanation from Atkinson on why the watchdog office hasn't opened a probe.
A spokesperson for the intelligence community's inspector general office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter comes as Grassley, Johnson and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham
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In another email, Strzok in April 2017 posits that an "agency" got more information than he previously realized and adds "might explain all these weird/seemingly incorrect leads all these media folks have. Would also highlight agency as source of some of the leaks."
The GOP senators also appear not to know who the "agency" in question is, asking in their letter to the intelligence community watchdog who Strzok is referring to and why he thinks it implies an agency is leaking. But the two senators say in their letter that Strzok's email is in response to a Guardian article about British intelligence agencies alerting their U.S. counterparts about contact between members of Trump's campaign and Moscow.
