Republican Rep. Jim Jordan accused key Clinton allies of helping craft a second anti-Trump dossier and accused them of "rigging the game," Tuesday on "Fox & Friends."

Jordan was asked about a possible second dossier and said Clinton operatives Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer had paid Christopher Steele to do opposition research, but then told Steele which specific details to include.

"The names we keep hearing are Sidney Blumenthal and Cody Shearer - people who have been around the Clintons as being a part of this. But I also think it's kind of interesting because what it looks like is, they paid Steele to put together the dossier and told him what to put in," Jordan said. "Talk about rigging the game and putting together a document that will serve your purposes as an opposition research document."

"That is what the Clinton team did and then when you see names like Sidney Blumenthal coming up. We deposed this guy during the Benghazi hearings," Jordan continued. "He has been with the Clintons forever. He was knee deep in the whole Libya, Benghazi story, particularly the story where they weren't square with the American people about what was the actual catalyst of the attack, and they tried to blame it on video."

Jordan expressed outrage at how the government omitted information about the dossier while seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant and said it was vital for the American public to have seen the GOP's recently released FISA memo.

"That dossier was taken to a secret court to get a secret warrant to spy on fellow citizen and they weren't clear with the court who paid for it, who was involved with, and the fact that they had already fired Chris Steele from any type of relationship with the FBI because he broke a fundamental trust. He went to the press and told them he was working with the FBI. And yet they still used this work product, this dossier," Jordan concluded. "That's what's so ridiculous about how they handled this, and why that memo last week from the Republicans was so important that the American people see."

The US appears to be aiming at dividing Syria, as US troops still linger in the country even after its promise to end the mission after driving out Islamic State fighters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"It's very likely that the Americans have taken a course of dividing the country. They just gave up their assurances, given to us, that the only goal of their presence in Syria - without an invitation of the legitimate government - was to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and the terrorists," Lavrov said.

Regarding pledges to keep a limited military contingent in the war-town state, Lavrov says the US is not being open about their true objectives.

"Now [the Americans] are saying that they will keep their presence till they make sure a steady process of a political settlement in Syria starts, which will result in regime change," the minister said during a conference in Sochi.

Former C.I.A. Director John Brennan on Sunday chastised the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday for his handling of a bombshell memo that delved into the secretive world of surveillance courts, saying the push to expose bias at the FBI was one-sided and shut out opposing views.

Mr. Brennan, who served under President Obama, said Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican, could have held hearings to expose potential problems at the FBI, but instead put out "very selective, cherry-picked" memo without allowing Democrats to offer a rebuttal memo.

"I never, ever saw the Democrats do something like this that was so partisan, so reckless and really just laid waste to the protocols that governed committees," Mr. Brennan told NBC's Meet the Press. "And Devin Nunes, over the past several months, all the way back to the spring of last year I think has been engaged in these tactics purely to defend, make excuses and try to protect Mr. Trump."


Mr. Brennan acknowledged that he once slammed Senate Democrats for releasing the so-called "torture report," though he felt Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California kept all sides informed at the time.

The Russians are already trying to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections and the US is basically helpless to stop them, according to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson told Fox News that the US, along with its "allies and partners," has identified "certain behaviors" apparently pointing to nefarious Moscow meddling in upcoming elections across the Western world. The Secretary of State did not elaborate about what kind of "behaviors" he was referring to.

Despite over a year of highly politicized investigations leading to no concrete evidence of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election, Tillerson took a rather fatalist view of America's ability to avoid "more" interference.

Newly revealed text messages between FBI paramours Peter Strzok and Lisa Page include an exchange about preparing talking points for then-FBI Director James Comey to give to President Obama, who wanted "to know everything we're doing."

The message, from Page to Strzok, was among thousands of texts between the lovers reviewed by Fox News. The pair both worked at one point for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Page wrote to Strzok on Sept. 2, 2016, about prepping Comey because "potus wants to know everything we're doing." According to a newly released Senate report, this text raises questions about Obama's personal involvement in the Clinton email investigation.

On February 3rd, German MPs visited Crimea, and began a tour of the peninsula sure to anger Kiev, who refuses to accept Crimean people voted to join Russia.

Indeed, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany has already stated that this visit may have "very lamentable consequences".

The Russian word used really shows the arrogance of the statement, "плачевные", it literally means "something worth crying over", in other words, if Germans visit Crimea, they may be crying about the consequences of their actions later.

To all appearances, Ahmad Sheikhzadeh led the life of a typical New York academic. A 62-year-old Columbia University Ph.D., he lived alone in a small West Village rental, practiced yoga, attended lectures with friends, and conducted research at New York University's labyrinthine Bobst Library. On Fridays, he'd travel uptown to a building at the corner of 40th Street and Third Avenue to work at Iran's Mission to the United Nations, stepping directly into one of the most dangerous flashpoints in global politics.

As Sheikhzadeh left his weekly briefing one day in March 2016, an FBI agent approached him. The agent did not immediately detain Sheikhzadeh, according to court filings; instead the investigator brought him to a hotel for questioning. Over the course of the night, the agent revealed that Sheikhzadeh was the subject of a sealed indictment in the Eastern District of New York.

Eventually, the agent made his pitch. The FBI asked Sheikhzadeh "to cooperate with the government and to spy on his employer even though the charges against him did not include anyone else employed at the Mission," according to court documents.

When Sheikhzadeh refused, he was charged with falsifying his tax returns, followed by other, more serious accusations, including money laundering and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Monday that there was clear evidence that the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign colluded with the Russians.

Here's the video of his comment (at about the 5:40 minute mark):


Here's what he said in context

Nunes was speaking Monday to Sean Hannity on his Fox News show about the FISA memo when he was asked to sum up their findings so far.

"Chairman Nunes, I believe you've done a great service," Hannity said, "I believe it's the right thing to do. The American people need to know about all of this because fundamentally, we had an effort to undermine our election, and then to undermine an incoming president - is that a fair statement? Last question."

Angela Merkel's conservative bloc has finalized a deal with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to form a new German government after 24 hours of negotiations.

Resurrecting the "grand coalition," the SPD will take control of the foreign, finance, and labor and social affairs ministries, while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union will have the ministry of economic affairs and the ministry of defense.

SPD leader Martin Schulz will serve as Germany's next foreign minister under the deal, according to BILD.

In a draft version of the deal seen by AFP, the two parties agreed to support EU reforms and a eurozone investment budget proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chris Swecker, who served 24 years as an FBI special agent speaks to FOX News about the FISA memo, what it said about the Comey-era FBI, the "predetermined" Clinton-email investigation and more. On Sunday's FOX & Friends, Swecker said Comey's "hubris" led to predetermined investigations, political opinions infecting investigations, and "a non-investigation of the Clinton email investigation."

Swecker wrote an op-ed piece for FOXNews.com last week: Shocking memo reveals how Comey disgraced an honorable FBI.