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.

Breaking: Kimberly Guilfoyle ‘Forever Grateful’ to Trump as She Resigns

Pope Leo XIV admitted to Gemelli Hospital for surgery to remove nodule from lung

Trump-linked super PAC pulls funding from 2 House Republicans as GOP fights to keep majority

Isaias aftermath brings arrests after suspects allegedly trick woman into letting them in car, store looted

911 operators questioned whether Christa Pike failed execution call was prank, audio reveals

On Same Day as Omar Raid, Trump Issues Dire Warning to Midterm Voters: Don’t Let Your State Get ‘Ransacked and Destroyed’ Like Minnesota

Trump asks Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign as Greece ambassador, White House confirms

Alleged Philadelphia Cop Killer Admits He Targeted White Officers – Would Not Have Shot Black Cops

Trump rally crowd chants ‘deport’ as president rips Ilhan Omar after federal raid

Trump vanishes from GOP senator’s campaign website as poll numbers plunge weeks before election

AI Is Replacing Doctors Already: Utah Just Let an AI Write a Medical Prescription for the First Time

Biden Admin Used Threats to Silence Parents from Speaking Out Against Woke Policies, Teaching: DOJ Report

Ilhan Omar immigration history: Scrutiny surrounds family’s refugee claims

Republicans eye Wes Moore’s redistricting measure to boost GOP in blue Maryland

Kimberly Guilfoyle faces potential Senate probe over bombshell $100K allegation

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.