Posted on 06/04/2019 10:22:41 AM PDT by Jack Black
Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, best known for authoring the infamous anti-Trump dossier, has reached a deal with American officials to answer questions about his work for the FBI, according to The Times of London.
The Times, citing a source close to Steele, reported that the former spy will meet American officials in London in the coming weeks.
An anonymous senior government source told the Times that there was no request to interview Steele. Whether to testify or not would be Steele’s decision since he is no longer in government service, the source added.
Steele paid second- and third-hand sources with ties to the Kremlin for the raw intelligence he included in his report. None of the claims in the report which are damaging to Trump or his associates have been verified, despite yearslong investigations by the FBI, special counsel Robert Mueller, and Congress.
In British court filings, Steele has admitted that he was hired in order to produce a dossier which his client could use to challenge the results of the 2016 presidential election. According to State Department documents declassified through a Freedom of Information Act request, Steele told State Department official Kathleen Kavalec that his client was eager to see the dossier become public before the 2016 election.
The Times also reports that Steele’s dossier “led to an FBI inquiry” of the Trump campaign which later evolved into the special counsel investigation. The newspaper does not provide a source for the claim, which is different from the FBI’s official narrative that the investigation of the Trump campaign began based on comments by Trump-campaign advisor George Papadopoulos.
According to the FBI’s current narrative, as laid out in the final report by Mueller, the bureau opened the investigation into the Trump campaign after learning that Papadopoulos told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer that Russia had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of thousands of emails.
The Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid for the dossier via a law firm during the 2016 presidential campaign. The FBI used the dossier to obtain a warrant to spy on former Trump-campaign associate Carter Page.
Top FBI and DOJ officials signed off on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application to spy on Page, despite evidence that Steele’s dossier was unverified and that the former British spy was biased against Trump. The FISA application omitted the fact that the Clinton campaign funded the dossier as well as exculpatory details of Page’s assistance to the FBI.
The Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) is close to completing an inquiry into the FBI’s handling of the FISA process and whether improper political considerations played into the bureau’s surveillance of Page. Steele agreed to speak to the inspector general after learning that the soon-to-be-released OIG report is critical of him and his credibility.
A source close to Orbis Business Intelligence, Steele’s firm, told the Times that the former spy will retain an American lawyer for the interview. Steele has limited the scope of the questioning to his work for the FBI. Steele also asked the Justice Department to obtain permission from British officials before the interview.
FYI.
Of course, it’ll be released sometime in 2021.
Reminds me of a talk we got during freshman orientation week in college. They told us “if you’re up to no good and you get approached by the local police and the campus police at the same time, run like heck to the campus police.”
Probably he and the OIG cut a deal as soon as Durham replaced Huber. The deal probably provides for just one interview and very limited questions.
Hi guy.
Didn’t Hannity say last night the OIG report (Horowitz), has already went to AG Barr?
No matter, the evidence of a conspiracy is mounting.
5.56mm
Biggest takeaway from the article, because if proven it could fatally discredit the Mueller report, which attempted to completely avoid any reference to Steele, likely die to the rabbit hole of foreign disinformation it creates. Rush hammered on this yesterday, pointing out that the entire predicate of the report, starting with the 3rd paragraph, would be blown to bits.
tick tock, the walls are closing in!
OIG doesn’t have authority to inspect (what they do, not officially investigate) outside of current DOJ employees, so most likely this is Durham.
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3754395/posts?page=14#14
Back in April of this year, when the FBI had over a year to classify them, the FBI just decided to classify all of their talks with Steele.
Yep, he did. It might be under review in "draft" from with Barr and the others named in it simultaneously. This is how I recall the process working, roughly.
Steele is a former FBI contractor. I have read elsewhere that the OIG doesn't have any method to compel anyone who is not an outside witness to testify, but I imagine if a former employee is willing to answer questions Horowitz and his team can talk to them.
I agree with the supposition that Steele suddenly became interested in talking to Horowitz when Durham was appointed.
One of the articles above says he was refusing to talk to Durham (criminal investigation) and now we hear he is willing to talk to Horowitz (FBI process investigation).
Once he does he may say "I had an agreement ... and use it to prevent him getting questioned by Durham (short of a formal extradition request).
Your comment is the first line only, the rest is my response.
Likely to be interviewed by a Deep State agent to control the discussion.
I respect the dedication that Sean Hannity has shown in reporting this story. He's never wavered, and it's been a long slow process, but he's kept on target.
On the other hand, he has a long history of over-promising and hyping nothing-burgers like they are big stories.
As in the famous Tic-tock.
So, I'm taking this report with a few grains of salt.
“I think when people see Michael Horowitz’s report, there will be explosive information. Sean, this is an avalanche of information that is going to come out. Viewers are going to be astonished.”That would be awesome.
Only if they're Obama flunkies!
No problem on the formatting, and you made some good points, as usual. Maybe I’m just hoping it’s an actual prosecutor, instead of just an inspector, who’s let us down before. As you said, it would definitely lend him some leniency if it was just the IG, were he to “misspeak“
Read the article. Exactly who or what agency will be interviewing Steele?
Will he be under oath?
Understood.
5.56mm
This is worse than that. Steele said he would only answer questions about his work for the FBI, which means he WONT answer questions about his work for Fusion GPS, Glenn Simpson, and Hilary Clinton.
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