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BuzzFeed’s move could have more legal heft because the web publisher is claiming it needs the information to defend itself in the libel suit. BuzzFeed steps up legal fight for feds’ info on Trump dossier

BuzzFeed is escalating its legal battle for details on how the federal government handled a dossier containing salacious allegations about President Donald Trump.

Lawyers for the online news outlet are asking a federal court in Washington to force the Justice Department, the FBI and the director of national intelligence, as well as former FBI Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to answer a series of questions about what officials had done in connection with the dossier as of the time BuzzFeed published it Jan. 10.

BuzzFeed filed a motion to compel the three agencies, Comey and Clapper to respond to subpoenas the media firm issued after it was sued for libel by Russian internet entrepreneur Aleksej Gubarev. He was mentioned in the dossier, which was compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele and contained information the Russians were said to be collecting to try to blackmail Trump.

Several news outlets, including POLITICO, are suing under the Freedom of Information Act to get records about how the federal government tried to vet the claims in the dossier. However, BuzzFeed’s move could have more legal heft because the Web publisher is claiming it needs the information to defend itself in the libel suit, pending in federal court in Miami.

Comey and Clapper have both commented publicly on the dossier, at least in general terms. The former FBI director, who was fired by Trump, described in a Senate hearing how he briefed Trump on the allegations while he was president-elect. Despite those disclosures, the government is resisting giving any testimony in the BuzzFeed case.

“The requested information here is highly relevant to BuzzFeed’s ability to establish that the publication of the Article, including the Dossier, is a fair and accurate report of records that were a basis of official government actions and thus is protected by a fair report privilege pursuant to state statute, common law and/or the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” attorney Nathan Siegel and other lawyers for BuzzFeed wrote.

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Justice Department lawyers are arguing that Clapper’s statements after he left the government in January and Comey’s statements after his firing in May don’t amount to official acknowledgment of any investigation into the so-called dossier and that responding to BuzzFeed’s queries will inevitably require disclosure of classified information.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

BuzzFeed first demanded the information in June but did not seek court intervention at that time. The new filing indicates that BuzzFeed has dropped requests to obtain information about the dossier from the CIA and former CIA Director John Brennan. The news outlet is no longer seeking actual government documents, but responses to a specific set of questions.

The questions and facts the media outlet wants the federal agencies to answer or confirm are:

1. Whether the content of the dossier was being investigated as of Jan. 10.

2. Whether the dossier was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation, or any other form of investigation, as of Jan. 10.

3. Whether DOJ had all the pages of the dossier that BuzzFeed published as of Jan. 10.

4. That Comey confirm his written statement to the Senate about his Jan. 6 briefing of President-elect Trump.

5. Whether a summary of the dossier’s contents was included in material provided to President-elect Trump.

6. Whether Comey participated in briefing President Barack Obama about the dossier on or about Jan. 6 in his official capacity as FBI director.

7. Whether DOJ/FBI received the dossier from Sen. John McCain’s office on Dec. 9, and whether DOJ/FBI received anything else subsequently from McCain’s office or any other representative of McCain.

8. That Brennan, Clapper and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers also participated in briefing Obama about the dossier on Jan. 6, in their official capacities and provided a written synopsis of the dossier.

9. That agencies of the U.S. government were attempting to verify the contents and sourcing of the dossier prior to Jan. 10, as referenced in Clapper’s May 8 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.