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.
Powell reveals what it would take to step down from the Fed as pressure mounts
Trump pledges to uncover leftist groups countering ICE
Rubio Announced Major Shift in Foreign Aid Strategy Ahead of Venezuela Moves
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Under Criminal Investigation
Seattle order to stop drug arrests ‘creating havoc’ for people fending off addicts surviving on theft: expert
LA protesters swarm U-Haul truck that drove through anti-Iranian regime gathering
Inside the lightning US strike that overwhelmed Venezuela’s defenses and seized Maduro
Alleged J6 Pipe Bomber Pleads Not Guilty After Reportedly Saying He Did it to Defend Biden’s Election Win
J6 Officer Praised By the Media Appears to Call for Violence Against ICE Agents
US raid in Venezuela signals deterrence to adversaries on three fronts, experts say
Meet Aaron Day, the 2016 spoiler who could sink Senate GOP hopes in New Hampshire
Rand Paul says Trump’s threat to bomb Iran ‘is not the answer’: Not the ‘job of the American government’
San Antonio ends its abortion travel fund after new state law, legal action
Los Angeles wildfire recovery enters second year as frustration and uncertainty linger
Smithsonian replaces Trump portrait display, strips Jan. 6 and impeachment references from accompanying text
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.
