Case 1:17-cv-02187-RJL Document 49-2 Filed 12/14/17 Page 1 of 4

Exhibit N
 Case 1:17-cv-02187-RJL Document 49-2 Filed 12/14/17 Page 2 of 4

Salky, Steven M.

From: Foster, Jason (Judiciary-Rep) <Jason_Foster@judiciary-rep.senate.gov>

Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2017 12:40 PM
To: Salky, Steven M.
Subject: Your Filing
Attachments: 2017-12-13 CEG to Whitehouse (December 1 tweet).pdf

Steve,

Your recent filing with the court uses a tweet by Senator Whitehouse to imply that Chairman Grassley was an
anonymous source for a story in the NYT. He was not. The implication in your filing is false. Please see the attached
letter from Chairman Grassley addressing Senator Whitehouses tweet with him directly. I trust you will amend your
filing to correct the record and include a copy of this letter. Im sure you would not want to leave a misleading
impression with the court now that you have the facts.

Cordially,
Jason Foster
Chief Investigative Counsel
Committee on the Judiciary

United States Senate

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Direct: 202-224-7142

1
 Case 1:17-cv-02187-RJL Document 49-2 Filed 12/14/17 Page 3 of 4

llnitro rates cnatc

CO ' ITI'EE 0 THE JUOICJAAY
' AS J GTO , DC 2051~75

December 13, 2017

VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse

Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator~
On Friday, December 1, 2017, you tweeted an excerpt from a New York Times article that
stated:
Another Republican senator said Mr. Trump had not urged him to help bring
the Russia inquiry to a halt. Instead, the senator said, the president nudged
him to begin an investigation into Hillary Clinton's connection with the
intelligence-gathering firm Fusion OPS, which produced a dossier of
allegations about Mr. Trump' s ties to Moscow.

Above that excerpt, you wrote: "Who is this Republican Senator 'nudged' by the White House? Is this
why full Judiciary hearings have veered in this direction instead of Russia/obstruction?" 1

Your insinuation is baseless. As you know, I have included you and your staff in the private,
voluntary interviews the Committee has been conducting, including one I procured with Donald
Trump Jr. , where your staff and the Ranking Member' s staff had as much time to ask any question
they wanted on any topic, without limitation.

Contrary to the implication in your tweet, I was not interviewed by the New York Times for that
story. I am not the anonymous Republican Senator from that quote. If you doubt my word, feel free

1
https://twitter.com/Sen Whitehouse/status/936662366808367105
 Case 1:17-cv-02187-RJL Document 49-2 Filed 12/14/17 Page 4 of 4
Senator Whitehouse
December 13 , 2017
Page 2 of2

to contact the reporters with a copy of this letter and ask them. The reporters should be free to say it' s
not me, because it wasn't.

My inquiries into Fusion OPS were not prompted by the President, they were prompted by the
Washington Post. In February, the Post reported that the FBI attempted to pay the former British spy
who was working with Fusion to compile the dossier. 2 Subsequent research by Committee staff led to
the revelations about Fusion's work to undennine the Magnitsky Act and related Foreign Agents
Registration Act issues. My concerns about Fusion GPS ' s role in creating and disseminating the
dossier were not prompted by any outside source, other than the Post's report.

In fact, you cosigned a letter with me to Fusion seeking relevant information and documents,3
and at a hearing this summer, you expressed interest in who funded Fusion' s dossier work, asking a
witness if he knew who Fusion' s client was in commissioning the dossier. 4 Unfortunately, since the
news broke that it was the Clinton Campaign and the DNC, Democratic interest in issues surrounding
Fusion has all but disappeared.

Your erroneous tweet has since been referenced in the media, and the myth that I took some
instruction on the direction of the Committee' s oversight work from the President has spread as a
result. Now that you know any such claim would not be true, I would hope you would tweet a
correction so that your followers also know it is false. And next time, please do me the courtesy of
asking me directly, so as to avoid spreading this kind of misinformation.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary

2 Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman, FBI Once Planned to Pay Former British Spy Who Authored Controversial
Trump Dossier, TH E WASHINGTON POST (Feb. 28, 2017); available atttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fbi-once-
planned-to-pay-fonner-british-spy-who-authored-controversial-trump-dossier/2017 /02/28/896ab470-facc-11 e6-9845-
576c690815 l 8_story.html
3 https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/20 l 7-07-

19%20CEG%20 D F%20to%20G lenn%20S impson%20(Document%20 Request). pdf

4 Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U. S. Elections: Lessons Learned.fi'om Current

and Prior Administrations. Hearing Before the Comm. on the Judiciary (July 27, 2017).