[Dagnabitt]

Same deniability chain as McCain and the phony dossier “Someone gave it to me so I thought I should give it to the FBI.”
Now the originator avoids the liability of lying to the FBI - and the cutout just says they were passing along something they received.

Good observation.

[TigerClaws]

The FBI then used reporting about the dossier to justify using further investigation.

The problem was the FBI did the actual leaking! DNC and then FBI paid for the dossier, leaked it, and then used the leak as a basis for the FISA warrant.