DNC could face investigation into Ukraine ties if Christopher Wray is … – Washington Examiner

If President Trump's nominee for FBI director is confirmed by the Senate, the Democratic National Committee could face an investigation into its interactions with the Ukrainian government.

During his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Christopher Wray signaled a willingness to investigate allegations that the DNC worked with the Ukrainian government to impede Trump's presidential campaign in 2016.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., read an excerpt from Politico's January investigation into the matter during his allotted time to question Wray. "Donald Trump wasn't the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country," Graham quoted from the report.

Politico's investigation asserted that Ukrainian government officials "helped Clinton's allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers."

The report, published before Trump's inauguration earlier this year, also cited "people with direct knowledge of the situation" claiming that a "Ukrainian-American operative who was consulting for the DNC met with top officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump, top campaign aide Paul Manafort and Russia."

Alexandra Chalupa, described by Politico as a "veteran Democratic operative," was engaged during the presidential campaign in research on Trump's ties to Russia, part of which was guided by the Ukrainian embassy. At the time, she was consulting for the DNC on outreach to ethnic communities. Politico reported that the DNC "encouraged" Chalupa to facilitate an interview during which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko would discuss Paul Manafort's connections to former President Viktor Yanukovych.

Chalupa confirmed to Politico that she "occasionally shared her findings with officials from the DNC and Clinton's campaign."

"Will you look into this?" Graham asked Wray after reading an excerpt from Politico's article. The nominee responded he would be "happy to dig into it."

For its part, the DNC has denied any wrongdoing. A source familiar with the matter spoke to CNN, claiming in a story published Wednesday, "We never got any actual information. It didn't go beyond running by someone in a hallway and hearing rumors ... It was hearsay in the hallway conversation, there was never any formal conversation or paper research."

Allegations regarding the DNC's interactions with Ukraine resurfaced this week after news broke that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer to potentially receive opposition research on Hillary Clinton sourced from the Russian government during his father's campaign.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

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DNC could face investigation into Ukraine ties if Christopher Wray is ... - Washington Examiner

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