(CNN) The Justice Department on Thursday night released 34 pages of memos from interviews with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who was in contact with the author of the unsubstantiated 2016 dossier about Donald Trump and his presidential campaign.

Judicial Watch, a right-leaning group that advocates for government transparency, obtained the documents through a federal public records lawsuit. The memos are called 302s, an internal FBI moniker for its notes of interviews. In all, 12 FBI memos about Ohr were released, from interviews in late 2016 though spring 2017.

The release is among the few internal documents available -- besides FBI memos about an interview with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the Mueller report itself -- that show investigators' early approaches to the Russia investigation.

The memos -- and Judicial Watch's interpretation of them -- highlight how Ohr wanted to share information with the FBI and how the FBI was gathering leads on Russians and the Trump campaign in late 2016 and early 2017. The disclosure of the memos on Thursday largely retreads and aligns with what Ohr and others have told House committees.

Judicial Watch and others have criticized Ohr, calling him a government official with a conflict of interest in 2016 who wanted to help federal agencies probe Trump's campaign by funneling them damaging and unfounded opposition research.

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