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 soldier indicted on charges of ‘calculated’ arson attack on federal Manhattan building

Iranian experts estimate economic losses from Operation Epic Fury at $280 billion

Pirro throws drops charges in three more Reflecting Pool vandalism cases amid Trump outrage

Sheriff in Nancy Guthrie Investigation Hit With Eye-Watering 9-Figure Lawsuit Over Another Dept. Disaster

Todd Blanche’s Nomination Takes Major Step Forward After Clearing Senate Judiciary Committee Vote

Is this Trump’s last ‘last chance’? Ceaseless string of broken ceasefires fuels doubt over Iran deal

Reporter’s Notebook: Inside the Senate showdown over Trump’s push to scrap August recess

Arizona man allegedly paralyzed by Nancy Guthrie sheriff’s deputies after alleged swatting call demands $176M

Illegal immigrant suspect charged in crash that killed police officer and his girlfriend

Left’s latest socialist darling dragged over ‘whiteness’ comments pulling in her own family: ‘Weirdo racism’

Top media outlets fail to disclose who is bankrolling their AI reporters

Watch: Oxford Debate on Islam Goes Off Rails When Man Threatens to Show Pic of Mohammed – Terror and Dead Silence Descend, Then the Fight Starts

Watch: Camera Catches Animated Meeting Between Sophie Cunningham and Trans Activist Coach of Opposing Team

Senate committee advances Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination

WATCH: GOP senator unloads on ‘creature of Washington’ challenger in critical Senate showdown

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.