Gowdy: Surveillance warrant would not have been authorized without dossier

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said in a new interview that the surveillance warrants for a former aide to President Trump’s campaign would not have been obtained without the controversial dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman said that while the dossier was not the only information the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court used to obtain the warrant, it would not have been acquired without the dossier.

{mosads}”Would it have been authorized were it not for that dossier?” Host Margaret Brennan asked Gowdy

“No. It would not have been,” Gowdy, a former prosecutor, replied.

Gowdy’s interview comes after the release of a controversial GOP memo that accuses the Justice Department of abusing its surveillance powers.

 “It was not the exclusive information relied upon by the FISA court,” Gowdy said in the CBS interview, referring to the dossier.

The memo also said that former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos sparked the initial counterintelligence probe, but added that the dossier was “essential” to obtaining the FISA warrant on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.