"Senator Grassley has always been and remains for transparency," Sen. Chuck Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Grassley open to public testimony from Fusion GPS leaders, spokesman says

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is willing to have executives from the firm behind the disputed Trump-Russia dossier testify publicly, his spokesman said Wednesday, adding that the Iowa Republican hasn't sought the release of a transcript of his panel's earlier interview with them for investigative reasons.

The leaders of Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned a former British spy to compile a dossier that describes an elaborate web of ties between President Donald Trump's campaign and the Kremlin, said in a New York Times opinion piece Tuesday that Republicans had bottled up their closed-door testimony while leaking selective details to undermine their credibility.


"Senator Grassley has always been and remains for transparency," Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said in a statement Wednesday. "There are, however, investigative factors that he must consider to temporarily protect certain information in the midst of an ongoing inquiry such as this one, like tainting the memory of other witnesses."

Foy said Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson rebuffed the committee's request six months earlier to testify publicly and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination "to negotiate for a closed-door interview."

"Despite his public statements, Mr. Simpson and his attorney demanded during the interview that the transcript be kept confidential," Foy said. "Mr. Simpson has refused to answer dozens of questions voluntarily, and has failed to provide the Committee with documents and responses to follow-up questions after the interview."

"The Committee’s invitation for Mr. Simpson to testify at a public hearing remains on the table," he added.

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Joshua Levy, an attorney for Fusion GPS, urged Grassley to call a vote of the committee on releasing Simpson's testimony, which he said would amount to 300 pages covering a 10-hour interview. Levy also said Grassley's office "misstates the history of Mr. Simpson's cooperation with its investigation."

“We have consistently supported release of the transcript, so long as we would have the opportunity to review it for accuracy, and so long as the identities of Fusion’s bank and employees could be protected," Levy said. "Having had the opportunity to review the full transcript, Fusion GPS wants it released."

Levy said Fusion was threatened with a subpoena at the same time the Judiciary Committee also warned it would compel testimony from former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. Though all three declined interviews, "only Mr. Simpson was served with a subpoena," he said. Eventually, the committee withdrew its subpoena and agreed to terms for a voluntary interview.

Levy also accused committee Republicans of focusing too heavily on Fusion at the expense of a broader inquiry into Russian influence in the 2016 election.

"The Committee has long known that Fusion GPS is neither the story nor the reason why the U.S. government is investigating the president’s campaign," he said. "We suggest Chairman Grassley acknowledge that fact and be transparent with the American people.”

Simpson and fellow Fusion founder Peter Fritsch also accused the GOP of spinning a sinister public narrative about the firm's work.

"Republicans have refused to release full transcripts of our firm’s testimony, even as they selectively leak details to media outlets on the far right," the duo wrote in the op-ed Tuesday.

The two men said they described for lawmakers a "yearlong effort to decipher Mr. Trump's complex business past" and troubling evidence of relationships with "dubious Russians." They also wrote that they refuted Trump allies' suggestion that they had advance knowledge of Russians' plans to meet in Trump Tower with the president's son Donald Trump Jr. or that the Russians involved in that meeting were sources for the dossier.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said Wednesday that Republicans have released transcripts from interviews with other witnesses.

"In light of the selective leaks of Mr. Simpson’s testimony and the misleading manner in which Fusion GPS’ role has been characterized, I would support a release of the transcript," Schiff said in a statement.

Grassley said in August that the committee was likely to release transcripts from the committee's Fusion interview. The Judiciary Committee was one of three GOP-controlled panels that interviewed Simpson and colleagues.

"The answer is, it will take a vote of the committee to do it, but I presume that they will be released," Grassley said at a town hall meeting in Mount Ayr, Iowa, according to an Aug. 23 Washington Examiner report.

