With the Russian collusion investigation going nowhere, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has now expanded its investigation to determine how law enforcement was able to use the infamous Trump dossier to ensnare the president.

Chairman Devin Nunes is accusing the FBI and Justice Department of misleading the committee on the dossier, which has been used to raise questions about the Trump campaign's connection to Russia.

Washington Times:

Committee [c]hairman Devin Nunes, California Republican, is accusing the Justice Department and the FBI of misleading him in "a pattern of behavior that can no longer be tolerated."  He charges that Justice claimed [that] it possesses no documents related to the infamous Trump dossier, then, under pressure, produced "numerous" such papers.

Republicans in the first half of 2018 are likely to wind down the starting-point inquiry into Russian hacking of Democrats and whether Trump aides helped.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the committee's top Democrat, already is protesting the likely move.  He is pushing an extended list of witnesses he wants summoned by Republicans, who suspect [that] Mr. Schiff would like to see the probe stay active into November's midterm elections and beyond.

Democrats, including Mr. Schiff, have conceded in recent weeks that their hope of finding an extensive Russia-Trump conspiracy to jointly attack former [s]ecretary of [s]tate Hillary Clinton has fallen short at this point.

You'd never know it by reports in the media.  As far as much of the press is concerned, the investigations are making great progress, and impeachable information will be revealed any day. 

What could outlive the initial Russia probe are missions undertaken by Mr. Nunes.  He has put in place what amounts to a separate investigation of the FBI and the Justice Department hierarchy.

There are three main components:

• Fusion GPS.  The Democrat-friendly opposition research firm and Mr. Nunes have squared off in U.S. District Court over access to Fusion's financial transactions.  Fusion funded the infamous Trump-Russia dossier with money from Mrs. Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

• The FBI and the dossier.  Republicans want to know how the document's unconfirmed felony accusations fueled the bureau's counterintelligence investigation since July 2016.

• Investigative bias.  The committee is demanding appearances from Justice officials who seemed out to get Mr. Trump and/or had ties to the dossier's distribution.

It is apparent that the FBI would just as soon see any investigation involving the dossier fail to uncover relevant facts.  The bureau was willing to pay $50,000 to the author, Christopher Steele, if the information he dug up (or created) could be corroborated.  Since the money was never paid, we have to assume that the wild charges contained in the document cannot be proven.

So why was the FBI able to launch an investigation using the scurrilous dossier as a basis?  That's what Nunes wants to find out.

I would think that after reading this report, sphincters are tightening at the FBI and Justice Department.  Democrats will try to discredit any attempt to get to the bottom of how the dossier was used, and we can expect more stonewalling from federal law enforcement.  Special Counsel Mueller will continue to pursue Trump and his associates, but it's becoming increasingly obvious that his probe is making little headway in uncovering a plot to steal the election.