Barr: ‘Very Unusual’ For FBI To Rely On Steele Dossier Given ‘Clear Mistakes’

Attorney General William Barr said in an interview that aired Friday that he is investigating what role the Steele dossier played in the Russia probe, and that the salacious document had “a number of clear mistakes.”

“It’s a very unusual situation to have opposition research like that, especially one that on its face had a number of clear mistakes and a somewhat jejune analysis,” Barr told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.

“And to use that to conduct counterintelligence against an American political campaign is a strange — would be strange development.”

In the interview, Barr spoke at length about an inquiry he launched at the Justice Department into the origins of the Russia investigation. He told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the investigation is also focusing on what information U.S. intelligence agencies gathered on Trump campaign associates before the FBI formally opened its investigation in July 2016.

Watch: Fireworks as Black Student and Talarico Voters Meet – Begin Hating, Attacking Each Other in Seconds

Coworker accused of slashing woman’s throat during ride home, victim escaped moving car: police

Ouch: ‘Saturday Night Live’ Turns Jelly Roll Into a Punchline

DNC Chair Ken Martin defends ‘Big Tent’ strategy when pressed on democratic socialists

Mamdani unveils sweeping NYPD use-of-force review, but stops short of fulfilling key campaign promises

Retired police sergeant shoots deputy chief wife and their daughter in wealthy, coastal enclave home

Ilhan Omar Tries to Talk Tough in Response to DHS Raid, But One Glaring Detail Betrays Her Cowardice

Keep Paying Up to 27% – Or Take Two Minutes to Check If You Qualify for 0%

Hackers target refrigerators at French supermarkets, overheating them and causing fires

Ilhan Omar says she will ‘not be silenced’ following raid on Washington home

Biden-appointed judge with history of fiery Trump clashes erupts at DOJ: ‘You’ve lost all credibility!’

AIPAC takes another shot at el Sayed and hands Rogers a political gamble in Michigan Senate race

Republican lawmakers break with Trump on diesel deal with Russia

Federal agents conduct predawn search of Ilhan Omar’s home in Washington

Watch: Talarico Said He Went to Urgent Care, Now Says He Went to His Doctor 200 Miles Away – What Do We Know?

The FBI relied heavily on the Steele dossier, which was funded by the DNC and Clinton campaign, to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. But Republicans have accused the FBI of misleading the surveillance court by relying on the dossier given that its allegations were unverified.

Christopher Steele, a former British spy, claimed in the dossier that the Trump campaign was involved in a “well-developed conspiracy of co-operation” with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. He alleged that Page and other Trump associates, like Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, were at the center of the scheme.

But the special counsel’s report all but debunked the dossier’s central thesis, while dismissing one specific allegation about Cohen. The report said that prosecutors were unable to establish a conspiracy between the Trump team and Russia. It also said that Cohen did not visit Prague in August 2016, which is where the dossier claimed the former Trump lawyer went to pay off Russian hackers.

Steele and his client, Fusion GPS, shopped the dossier around to numerous journalists. Steele also provided memos from his dossier to the FBI and State Department.

Barr told Hemmer that the answers he has received so far about the origins of the investigations “aren’t sufficient.” He is reportedly working with the directors of the CIA, FBI and Office of National Intelligence on the inquiry.