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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to the Justice Department and FBI for documents related to a dossier that alleged Russia collected compromising material on Donald Trump, the panel’s top Democrat said on Tuesday.

Representative Adam Schiff told MSNBC in an interview that he and other Democrats on the committee objected to the subpoenas, which he said Republicans issued in an attempt to discredit its author, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

Republicans have said it is important to understand the genesis of the dossier and whether it was created to sabotage Trump during his successful campaign for president.

The dossier was funded by a group that conducted political opposition research on Trump during the 2016 campaign and included wide-ranging allegations about Trump, his associates and his finances.

The House intelligence panel is conducting one of several congressional probes into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, including potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Russia denies meddling in the election and Trump denies any collusion.