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.

Shake Shack worker allegedly calls out before robbing own restaurant, returns in uniform 2 days later

California Man Receives Postcard Sent by His Late Parents 26 Years Ago

DFW Airport scraps controversial Islamic foot-washing station plan as Texas Gov Abbott takes aim

California teen faces prison after viral video shows him squaring up, repeatedly kicking sea lion in the face

Reagan National Airport makes drastic change following deadly 2025 midair collision

Watch: Little League Coach Declares, ‘Jesus Is Still Lord’ Live on ESPN

El-Sayed’s half sister offered Oct 7 ‘blessing,’ one year after Hamas attack: ‘Allahu Akbar’

Trump leaves stage mid-speech to embrace parents of 12-year-old killed by stray bullet in the Bronx

Trump’s fight over rarely used 18th-century deportation law lives on in latest court clash

President Trump claims AOC, far-left Democrats are backing away from controversial positions

EXCLUSIVE: Kennedy Center board moves to name grounds ‘President Donald J Trump Plaza’

Netanyahu mocks UK as ‘Islamic Republic of Britain’

Judge’s Harvard antisemitism ruling sends Trump Justice Department back to drawing board

Trump Was Right All Along About Democrats’ Late-Term Abortion Agenda

Brave widow of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson comes face to face with Luigi Mangione for first time

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.