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As GOP attacks on Justice Department escalate, top officials meet with House Speaker Ryan

WASHINGTON _ Amid escalating tensions between some House Republicans and the Justice Department, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a private meeting with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

Wray and Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department and the man overseeing the special counsel investigation into the Trump campaign's dealings with Russian agents, asked for the meeting in part to discuss the department's responses to House subpoenas and requests for information, according to a person familiar with the request who was not authorized to speak on the record.

The meeting comes as President Donald Trump and allies in Congress have stepped up their attacks on the Justice Department, the FBI and the probe run by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Critics have alleged the investigation is infected with partisan bias, pointing to texts last year between two FBI officials during the campaign that were highly critical of Trump.

Republicans also have been pushing the FBI and Justice Department to reveal more about what they know about a dossier containing allegations about Trump associates and Russia. The dossier, which was prepared by a private firm hired by Trump's political opponents, was published by BuzzFeed early last year.

_Tribune Washington Bureau