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.

Musk: Austin Shooter Was Fired by Tesla After He Struck Woman Who ‘Accidentally Stepped on His Prayer Rug’

Over 100 arrested in California after $2 billion state-federal healthcare fraud crackdowns

Fox News Poll: Nail-biter in Maine Senate race

Man accused of smashing Iwo Jima statue with sledgehammer in Quantico

Trump rally exposes surprising cracks in MAGA base as Republicans face midterm test

Watch: Mike Rogers Stops Abdul El-Sayed in His Tracks When He Attempts ‘Victim’ Strategy During Debate

Italy and Spain end border crisis sparked by Ceuta invasion, but approximately 15,000 migrants still demand asylum

Dozens Taken to Hospital, Days-Long Evacuation in Effect as Massive Chemical Leak Plagues Ohio City

Lindsay Clancy’s Lawyer Slapped Down by Judge For Trying to Investigate Holdout Juror and Examine His Phone

Ilhan Omar is not the Minnesota congresswoman’s ‘real name’: sources

Australia pastor case ‘canary in the coal mine’ for American Christian freedoms: TPUSA leader

Federal authorities charge 15 in massive $1.8B Southern California medical fraud sweep

Accused Philadelphia cop killer Eric Lewis faces new federal gun, robbery charges after deadly ambush

Macron returns to Paris on war footing to quash ‘illegitimate’ riots he blames on ‘organized ultra-left groups’

Mamdani expected to face legal trouble over PETA-backed horse carriage ban

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.