Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who compiled the hoax dossier alleging ties between President Donald Trump and Russia, refuses to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s investigation into the origins of the Obama administration’s spying on then-candidate Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, according to Reuters.
A Reuters source close to Steele’s private investigation outfit, Orbis Business Intelligence, said the ex-spy has chosen not to answer questions from Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was recently appointed by Attorney General William Barr to examine the probe’s origins. Reports of Steele’s unwillingness to cooperate with the Justice Department comes days after President Trump gave Barr authority to declassify intelligence materials related to the probe and ordered several law enforcement agencies, including the CIA and FBI to cooperate with Durham’s review.
In 2016, Steele was hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS tasked by attorneys for the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign to dig up dirt on President Trump. Steele’s dossier was used by the FBI to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil members of the Trump campaign, namely, onetime Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page. FBI officials did not disclose explicitly to the FISA court that the dossier was paid for by the DNC or the Clinton campaign. However, the bureau did indicate that the document was produced as opposition research.
Far-Left Media Outlet Abruptly Folds, Causing Conservatives to Dig Up Some of Its Most Insane Headlines
Watch: NBA Players Can’t Contain Themselves When Singer Desecrates Anthem with LGBT Flag
Houston mayor bolts early from ICE cooperation after blue wave crashes in Texas
Reporter’s Notebook: A user’s manual to upcoming leadership elections in the House and Senate
Newsom Commutes Sentences of California’s 548 Prisoners on Death Row
Meghan Markle’s father arrested on federal child pornography charges
Allies fear relying on US after Starshield disruption demonstrated ‘kill switch’ threat
MICHAEL RUIZ: California prosecutors revolt after Newsom orders state’s worst killers off death row
Dems pivot from ‘affordability’ pitch to DHS probe threats after midterm wins
Russia secretly bolstered Iran’s missile arsenal before war with US, records uncover
Prosecutor overseeing Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ investigation resigns
‘I Wanted to Punch Them in the Face’: Charles Barkley Blasts Trick or Treaters, and the Full Story Makes It Almost Relatable
Lauren Boebert’s Campaign Investigating ‘Very Unusual Voting Patterns’ as She Trails in Tight Race
Florida Learjet crash investigators dig up engine piece after pilots warned of rough weather ahead
Progressive group’s 182-page blueprint maps out potential Dem investigations into Trump, corporate allies
In a recent interview with the Fox News Channel, Barr said his department is examining if “government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” at the start of the FBI’s counterintelligence operation.
“I’ve been trying to get answers to the questions, and I’ve found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate, and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together. In a sense, I have more questions today than when I first started,” the attorney general told anchor Bill Hemmer.
“The source close to Steele’s company said Steele would not cooperate with Durham’s probe but might cooperate with a parallel inquiry by the Justice Department’s Inspector General into how U.S. law enforcement agencies handled pre-election investigations into both Trump and Clinton,” according to Reuters.
Story cited here.
