Chuck Grassley

=== Russian interference in 2016 elections ===
{{Main|Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections|Foreign electoral intervention}}
In February 2017, Grassley said that while Russian interference in U.S. elections was "bothersome", the United States did not have clean hands and had, for instance, interfered with the [[1948 Italian general election|1948 Italian election]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/grassley-u-s-hands-aren-t-clean/article_23acf094-e58a-580a-8351-46610d0d5c70.html|title=Grassley: U.S. hands aren't clean|last=Tibbetts|first=Ed|newspaper=The Quad-City Times|access-date=February 15, 2017|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215212302/http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/grassley-u-s-hands-aren-t-clean/article_23acf094-e58a-580a-8351-46610d0d5c70.html|archive-date=February 15, 2017}}</ref> In May 2017 after Trump [[dismissal of FBI Director James Comey|fired FBI director James Comey]], Grassley advised people suspicious of the [[Presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]] to "Suck it up and move on."<ref>Fox & friends (foxandfriends).  [https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/862279059404865537 .@ChuckGrassley's message to those calling Comey's firing 'Nixonian': 'Suck it up and move on.'"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109175006/https://twitter.com/foxandfriends/status/862279059404865537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fpolicy-and-politics%2F2017%2F5%2F10%2F15609606%2Fgrassley-nixon-trump-comparisons-reaction |date=November 9, 2017 }} May 10, 2017, 5:12 a.m.  Tweet.</ref>
On October 31, 2017, while a group of Republicans were facing questions from reporters concerning recent indictments, Grassley ignored the questions and left the room.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Barrett|first1=Ted|title=Top Republicans (literally) dodge questions on Trump aide indictments|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/chuck-grassley-exit/index.html|website=[[CNN]]|date=October 31, 2017 |publisher=[[CNN]]|access-date=October 31, 2017|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031012244/http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/politics/chuck-grassley-exit/index.html|archive-date=October 31, 2017}}</ref>

In January 2018, and in the first known congressional [[criminal referral]] in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Grassley, along with [[Lindsey Graham]], recommended charges against [[Christopher Steele]], one of the people who sought to expose Russian interference.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/us/politics/christopher-steele-dossier-judiciary-committee.html|title=Republican Senators Recommend Charges Against Author of Trump Dossier|last1=Fandos|first1=Nicholas|date=2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 5, 2018|last2=Rosenberg|first2=Matthew|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105191310/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/05/us/politics/christopher-steele-dossier-judiciary-committee.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Grassley and Graham said that they had reason to believe that Steele had lied to federal authorities.<ref name=":1" /> According to ''The New York Times'', "It was not clear why, if a crime is apparent in the F.B.I. reports that were reviewed by the Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department had not moved to charge Mr. Steele already. The circumstances under which Mr. Steele is alleged to have lied were unclear, as much of the referral was classified."<ref name=":1" />

In January 2018, when Grassley and Judiciary Committee Republicans were refusing to release the full transcript of an August 2017 ten-hour interview that the Judiciary Committee had conducted with [[Glenn R. Simpson|Glenn Simpson]], Senator [[Dianne Feinstein]], the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the full transcript unilaterally.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/09/feinstein-releases-transcript-of-interview-with-fusion-gps-co-founder-329573|title='Human source' in Trump orbit contacted FBI, Fusion GPS co-founder told senators|author=Cheney, Kyle|work=[[Politico]]|date=January 9, 2018|access-date=January 10, 2018|archive-date=January 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109184549/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/09/feinstein-releases-transcript-of-interview-with-fusion-gps-co-founder-329573|url-status=live}}</ref> Simpson is the co-founder of the political opposition research firm [[Fusion GPS]], which produced the so-called [[Steele Dossier]] on alleged connections between Trump and Russia. Grassley condemned Feinstein, saying that her decision was "confounding" and that it deterred future witnesses in the Russia 2016 investigation.<ref name=":2" /> Simpson himself had requested that the full transcript of his interview be released, saying that Republicans had selectively leaked portions of the testimony to conservative media outlets in order to portray Simpson in a negative light and discredit the Steele dossier.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/09/sen-dianne-feinstein-unilaterally-releases-fusion-gps-testimony.html|title=Senate Democrats just released the full testimony on the Trump-Russia dossier. Here's what's in it|last=Breuninger|first=Kevin|date=January 9, 2018|work=[[CNBC]]|access-date=January 10, 2018|archive-date=January 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110010358/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/09/sen-dianne-feinstein-unilaterally-releases-fusion-gps-testimony.html|url-status=live}}</ref>