US House Intelligence Committee subpoenas FBI, DOJ over President Donald Trump dossier

US President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with congressional leaders about tax reform in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, September 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The US House Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to the FBI and the Justice Department requesting a controversial dossier that linked President Donald Trump to Russia.

The panel has requested that both agencies hand over records containing information about the dossier and the FBI’s relationship with its author former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.

The dossier was funded by a group that conducted an opposition research project against Trump during the last months of the 2016 presidential campaign and included wide-ranging allegations about Trump, his aides and finances.

The House committee wants to know whether FBI had supported the political opposition research on Trump.

The subpoenas had initially set a deadline of September 1 for the documents, but they were extended to September 14 after both agencies missed the deadline.

The panel also subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday to appear before the committee and explain why they failed to provide the dossier.

US Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, waits for former CIA Director John Brennan to testify during a House Intelligence Committee hearing about Russian actions during the 2016 election on Capitol Hill, May 23, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

"We got nothing," Representative Trey Gowdy, a Republican member of the committee, told the Washington Examiner. "The witnesses have not been produced, and the documents have not been produced."

Democrats on the House panel objected to the subpoenas, describing them as a move by Republicans to discredit the dossier and its author.

Steele created the 35-page dossier while working for Fusion GPS, a US-based investigative firm headed by former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson.

Former FBI Director James Comey leaves a closed session with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Republicans have argued that it is important to establish whether the dossier was compiled to sabotage Trump during his presidential campaign.

Former FBI Director James Comey insisted the dossier be included in an intelligence report on alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election.