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.

Trump administration urges judge to dissolve injunction blocking Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Liberia

Florida woman seen on video allegedly attacking pregnant driver, elderly bystander and biting police officer

FIRST ON FOX: US Border Patrol nabs Mexican fugitives in California wanted for murder, child sex crimes

Christian Street Preachers Fight Back with Lawsuits After Getting Arrested in Major American City

Schumer gambit fails as DHS shutdown hits 36 days and airport lines grow

BREAKING: Robert Mueller, Who Investigated Russian Collusion, Dies at 81

Judge Lays Into Progressive Prosecutors Before Slapping Violent Teen With Tough Sentence

Thune, GOP blast Dems in DHS standoff; Lankford says they fear ICE over Iran

Variety Publishes Disgusting Chuck Norris Political Hit-Piece the Day After His Death

Woman branded ‘female Charles Manson’ escaped prison, prosecutor now doubts her conviction

Man Who Allegedly Crucified Pastor in Brazen Crime Names the Penalty He Wants

Mamdani’s Wife Deletes X Account After Disturbing Posts Supporting Terror, Using Racial Slurs Resurface

Robert Mueller has died at 81, Trump says he’s ‘glad’

Trump threatens to replace TSA officers with ICE agents as DHS shutdown drags on

Trump threatens to deploy ICE agents to airports amid funding fight, vows arrests of illegal aliens

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.