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.

Former top Oregon GOP official secures nomination for governor as Republicans target blue-state pickup

Trump-backed senator cruises to primary win, setting up potential 4th term

Bob Brooks wins Pennsylvania’s 7th District primary to take on Ryan Mackenzie in general election

Three stabbed at crowded Rhode Island beach as hundreds of teens pack area, police say

Bob Harvie wins Pennsylvania’s 1st District primary to set showdown with Brian Fitzpatrick

Trump ally Tommy Tuberville cruises to Alabama GOP governor nomination

Kentucky physician advances to general election after receiving glowing Trump endorsement: ‘True friend’

Pentagon cuts Brigade Combat Teams in Europe as Trump pressures NATO on spending

Stelson-Perry rematch set in Pennsylvania’s 10th District

Gallup Poll: Americans Would Rather Live Near a Nuclear Power Plant Than an AI Data Center

Breaking: Thomas Massie Loses to Trump-Backed Ed Gallrein in Hotly Contested Primary

Tragic: College Football Player Dead at 22, Coach Says ‘He Will Be Sincerely Missed’

Ketanji Brown Jackson Publicly Trashes All 8 of Her Fellow Supreme Court Justices

Trump admin readies Raul Castro indictment as fatal shootdown case resurfaces: sources

Oklahoma Newspaper Pulls Jewish Writer’s Op-Ed Praising OKC Thunder and Israel for Thriving Against Bigger Rivals

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.