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.

The parties have flipped on support for Israel

The only band that ever mattered was … the Monkees

Department of War Releases New Batch of UFO Files, Including Data on ‘Black Triangle’ Incidents from This Year

Marriage Certificate from 1997 May Confirm the Real Identity of ‘Ilhan Omar’ and Her Marriage to Her Brother

Canada is feeling the pain from Trump’s tariffs — but the trade fight didn’t start overnight

Trump officials warn decades-long decline among American men could carry national security consequences

Katie Britt quietly invests in GOP candidates — and her own political future

A New England city was transformed by refugees – now it faces a youth gun violence crisis: ‘Fear for my life’

FBI arrests Georgia man accused of throwing Molotov cocktail at Atlanta ICE facility

Notorious ‘Tan Mom’ claims ICE agents mistook her for illegal immigrant because of extreme tan

Incredible Video: Heroic Dad Fights Off Gang of Carjackers While Protecting Daughter, Shoots 1 Dead

Knicks Tricked Employees with Fake Championship Ring-Fitting Message, Forced Clickers Into Cybersecurity Courses

Democrats Screech About ICE Injuring a US Citizen – Then Video of the Start of the Conflict Emerges

WATCH: Mamdani Teaches Illegals How to Avoid Capture and Evade ICE in New Spanish-Language Video

Tyler Robinson hearing ends without trial date set, prompting fiery plea from Erika Kirk’s lawyer

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.