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.

Congress is struggling to get its work done and a new report argues for 21st-century upgrades

Nigel Farage squirms in spotlight as British press hounds him over £5M ‘gift’ from crypto billionaire

AOC puts major tech company on notice amid looming price increases: ‘Far too big’

Massie lashes out when pressed on ex-girlfriend’s allegations of affair with GOP firebrand

Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Parents take schools to court, drag queen school board member arrested

Man dead, another critical after double stabbing at Brooklyn park as police detain person of interest: NYPD

Trump scores another endorsement win with Louisiana Senate runoff victory

Louisiana Democrats pick rural farmer to challenge GOP in uphill Senate bid

Ketanji Brown Jackson Really Worried Judges Might Actually Apply Second Amendment In Gun Cases

Judge rules Republican with same name as Sen Dan Sullivan can stay on Alaska primary ballot

Taxpayer Dollars May Have Funded Education Of CCP Assets, Report Reveals

Parents of 7-year-old who died weighing 255 pounds charged with murder in suspected neglect case

Jordan Takes Important Step for Freedom of Christians

America Shouldn’t Need a Political Savior to Hold It Together

Mamdani’s suited pool plunge overshadowed by political clash with GOP gubernatorial candidate

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.