In an exclusive
report tonight, Fox News exposed text messages between Sen. Mark Warner
(D-VA) and lobbyist Alex Waldman.
Waldman runs the Endeavor Group in Washington and works for Russian
billionaire Oleg V. Deripaska whose visa was revoked by the State Department in
2006 because of ties to organized crime.
Warner is Vice Chair of
the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russiagate.
The report stresses “secrecy
seemed very important to Warner as the conversation with Waldman heated up
March 29, when the lobbyist revealed that Steele wanted a bipartisan letter
from Warner and the committee’s chairman, North Carolina Republican Sen.
Richard Burr, inviting him to talk to the Senate intelligence panel.”
“Throughout the text
exchanges, Warner seemed particularly intent on connecting directly with Steele
without anyone else on the Senate Intelligence Committee being in the loop. In
one text to the lobbyist, Warner wrote that he would ‘rather not have a paper
trail’ of his messages.”
An aide to Warner
confirmed to Fox News that the text messages are authentic.
The exclusive report
continues,“Burr and Warner released a joint statement to Fox News:
“From the beginning of
our investigation we have taken each step in a bipartisan way, and we intend to
continue to do so," Warner and Burr said in the statement. "Leaks of
incomplete information out of context by anyone, inside or outside our committee,
are unacceptable.”
The conversation about
Steele started on March 16, 2017, when Waldman texted, "Chris Steele asked
me to call you."
Warner responded,
"Will call tomorrow be careful.”
"Can you talk
tomorrow want to get with ur English friend," Warner texted.
"I spoke to him
yesterday," Waldman texted.
The two men appear to
have finally connected about Steele by phone on March 22, according to the
records.
"Hey just tried u
again gotta give a speech but really want to finish our talk," Warner
texted.
Waldman, at one point,
texted back that Steele really wanted a bi-partisan letter requesting his
testimony first. He added that Steele was concerned about word leaking to the
media that they were talking.
In one text, Warner
suggested he did not want Burr or any other senator included in the
discussions: "Ok but I wud (sic) like to do prelim call u me and him no
one else before letter just so we have to trail to start want to discuss scope
first before letter no leaks."
Waldman noted repeatedly
that Steele was concerned about leaks and was "spooked" by all the
attention he had received around the world. Steele, he said, was skittish about
talking to Warner.
Warner texted back on
March 30: "We want to do this right private in London don't want to send
letter yet cuz if we can't get agreement wud rather not have paper trail."
On April 5, Warner
texted, "Any word on Steele.”
"Yes seems to have
cold feet from the leaks. Said he wanted a bipartisan letter followed by
written questions," texted Waldman, adding that the Wall Street Journal
had contacted him asking if he was an intermediary between the panel and
Steele.
In the text messages,
Warner also discussed the possibility of a trip to see Steele.
On March 23, Warner
texted, "Need to coordinate date for trip can u talk with my scheduler
also want to discuss Paul," an apparent reference to former Trump campaign
chairman Paul Manafort, whose initials are used in the next text by Waldman.
On March 26, Warner
texted, "Really need to set date things r going to really pick up."
"Standing by to do
it," texted Waldman. "Awaiting call from your scheduler and also the
letter he (Steele) would like they(sic) we discussed. And have second
interesting thing to raise. Pls call."
But after calls back
and forth, Warner made clear that he wanted to talk to Steele directly without
Burr or anyone else being involved, even though Steele was insisting through
Waldman that the contact start with a bipartisan letter inviting him to
cooperate with the Senate panel.
"Hey can't we do
brief (off the record) call today before letter so I can frame letter,"
Warner texted Waldman on March 29.
Warner began texting
with Waldman in February 2017 about the possibility of helping to broker a deal
with the Justice Department to get the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the
United States to potentially face criminal charges. That went nowhere, though a
Warner aide told Fox News that the senator shared his previously undisclosed
private conversations about WikiLeaks with the FBI.
Over the course of four
months between February and May 2017, Warner and Waldman also exchanged dozens
of texts about possible testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee from
Deripaska, Waldman's primary Russian billionaire client.
In January 2009,
Harper's Magazine reported that Deripaska had hired an advisory firm with close
ties to Hillary Clinton to help him get a visa to enter the United
States." The magazine quoted Waldman as saying his firm does not lobby, though
he filed paperwork with the Justice Department to represent Deripaska before
the U.S. government.
In the dozens of text
messages between February 2017 and May 2017, Waldman also talked to Warner
about getting Deripraska to cooperate with the intelligence committee. There
have been reports that Deripraska, who has sued Manafort over a failed business
deal, has information to share about the former Trump aide.
In May 2017, the Senate
and House intelligence committees decided not to give Deripraska legal immunity
in exchange for testimony to the panels. The text messages between Warner and
Waldman appeared to stop that month.
Senator Warner & the Russian were obviously only talking about grandkids and golf swings— Sean Spicier (@sean_spicier) February 9, 2018
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