FBI HAS EVIDENCE THAT ‘DIRECTLY REFUTES’ PREMISE OF TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE, GOP REP SAYS

• A top Republican lawmaker said Sunday that the FBI failed to provide a federal surveillance court with evidence that “directly” contracted the bureau’s rationale for opening the Trump-Russia investigation
• Rep. John Ratcliffe told Fox News that the evidence related to former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos
• The FBI opened its investigation in July 2016 based on intelligence from the Australian government about Papadopoulos

Republican lawmakers have hinted for months that the FBI failed to provide federal judges on the surveillance court with information that undercut the government’s premise for opening the Trump-Russia probe in 2016.

Republicans have suggested in interviews that the information related to George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser whose conversation with an Australian diplomat prompted the FBI to open its investigation into the Trump campaign.
Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe provided Sunday the clearest picture to date of what the FBI allegedly withheld from the surveillance court.

Ratcliffe suggested that the FBI failed to include evidence regarding former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, in an interview with Fox News.

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