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.

Newsom reveals when he’ll decide on 2028 White House bid amid growing speculation

DHS touts highest ICE deportations in history, as Mullin says agency has been ‘unleashed’

Dan Patrick concedes Texas ‘turned purple’ after Democrats’ historic blue wave

Van Hollen challenges Schumer for Senate leadership after Democratic election sweep

‘They Still Do That?’: Watch Greta Thunberg Laugh Hysterically at Climate Activists She Ditched for Gaza

Texas man executed for beheading 3 children: ‘Going to be with my kids’

Sick Tattoos, Raised in Mosques – Man Accused of Murdering NYC Jogger Was Reported Multiple Times, but Left in Place Over Racism Fears

Sharia Law, Human Trafficking, and Modern-Day Slavery: When Religious Authority Becomes a License to Enslave Women

Even Stephen A. Smith is Fed Up with Dems’ Hegseth Impeachment Shenanigans: ‘Exactly What We Don’t Need’

So Much for Affordability: Dem Garcia Explicitly Threatens Stephen Miller with Lawfare on CNN

Revenge: Democrats Target Top Trump Fundraiser and Get Hit With Powerful Reply

The GOP knives are out for Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick

Democrat Cindy Holscher wins Kansas governor’s race, extending party’s hold on governor’s mansion

‘No ongoing investigations’ into Democrats’ oversight threats, Blanche says

‘Kill a cop’: Leftists see gun charges dropped due to conservative Second Amendment push

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.