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.
Breaking: Holdout Juror in Lindsay Clancy Trial Issues First Statement: ‘I Didn’t Have Any Doubts’
Juror who blocked Lindsay Clancy verdict disputes fellow jurors’ claims: report
Incumbent GOP Rep Attacks Trump for Enforcing Immigration Law in ‘Stunning’ Campaign Ad
ICE deports ex-Liberian fighter accused of torture, recruiting child soldiers
Trump’s EPA reforms are a huge boost to manufacturers, but there’s more red tape to cut: expert
Mike Huckabee calls out Macklemore on antisemitism: ‘Voice’ of ‘Jew hatred’
Hasan Piker Doubles Down on America Hate, Says US Bigger Terror Group Than Al-Qaeda
Federal Judge Refers Soros-Funded DA for Criminal Prosecution After Finding ‘Credible Evidence’ He ‘Violated the Law’
Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare overbilled Medicaid by $47 million, federal audit finds
Trump DOJ official downplays antitrust concerns about companies coordinating AI safety development
Unearthed clip exposes what ‘DEI Queen’ in razor-thin House race thought of ‘Back the Blue’ law
Hasan Piker gives Democrats their latest headache after calling US ‘worse’ than al Qaeda
House GOP lawmaker under fire by fellow Republicans after ad bashing Trump on immigration
WATCH: Gaffe-prone Seattle socialist mayor cuts off police chief in yet another awkward interview
Texas Air National Guard pilot ejects safely before F-16 crash in Michigan
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.
