Former top Obama administration officials are at odds over which of them may have pushed the infamous golden showers dossier be included in an assessment of Russian election interference – and existing email records hold the key to who is correct.

A former Republican congressman is touting the available digital evidence, as a new investigatory climate focuses on those involved in decisions to look at the Trump campaign in 2016 amid Russian election interference.

Attorney General William Barr has appointed a top prosecutor to examine the origins of the Russia probe – the latest of several efforts to 'investigate the investigators.'

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey

Once again, former FBI Director James Comey is a central figure to the matter. Fox News reports that in a late-2016 email chain, Comey tells subordinates that the dossier should be included in an intelligence community assessment of Russian interference – and that it was at the direction of former CIA Director John Brennan.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller hunted down the details of the Kremlin-backed interference campaign and included it in his report, and the DOJ issued indictments.

But a former CIA official says it was Comey who wanted the dossier included in an Intelligence Community Assessment – not former CIA director John Brennan or former National Security Agency director James Clapper.

A former CIA official says it was Comey who wanted the dossier included in an Intelligence Community Assessment, not former National Security Agency director James Clapper (pictured) or Brennan

Former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan, who had access to Russia information during 2016, has become a fierce Trump critic, even calling Trump's conduct 'treasonous'

All three are targets of President Trump and have blasted his conduct while in office.

Emails refer to the dossier, which included unverified information about Donald Trump's alleged conduct in a Moscow hotel room during the 2014 Miss Universe pageant, as 'crown material.'

A former CIA official told the network: '"Former Director Brennan, along with former James Clapper, are the ones who opposed James Comey’s recommendation that the Steele Dossier be included in the intelligence report," the official told the network.

'They opposed this because the dossier was in no way used to develop the ICA," the official added. "The intelligence analysts didn't include it when they were doing their work because it wasn't corroborated intelligence, therefore it wasn't used and it wasn't included. Brennan and Clapper prevented it from being added into the official assessment. James Comey then decided on his own to brief Trump about the document."

The dossier was developed by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who relied in part on his Russia contacts to develop the information.

Comey famously briefed Trump on the contents of the dossier and its salacious unverified claims after the election, during the transition.

Trump would ultimately fire Comey after complaining about the Russia probe, in an incident that featured in Mueller's probe of possible obstruction of justice by the president.

Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy hyped the emails an appearance on Fox, Trump's favorite network. 'Whoever is looking into this, tell them to look into emails,' he said.

'Comey has a better argument than Brennan, based on what I've seen,' Gowdy said.

With the release of the Mueller report, which the president declared a 'total exoneration' but which also sketches out numerous Trump campaign contacts with Russians, Barr named the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, John Durham, to review the origins of the probe.

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz is examining the FBI's actions during the probe. Judiciary Committee Chairman Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had promised his own probe, said he doesn't want to interfere in the Barr-ordered probe, which Trump praised publicly.