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.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams blasts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott After Second Bus Of Migrants Arrives

Georgia Couple Arrested for Allegedly Using Their Adopted Children to Produce Child Pornography

Actress Anne Heche Boozed In Podcast Dropped Hours Before She Drove Into A Home, Sustained Severe Burns: Report

Biden’s Weaponized Anti-Constitution Feds Are Getting Creepier

Now They Want More: LA Times Urges Biden to Declare a ‘Climate Emergency’

VP Harris Breaks Tie, Senate Passes Democrats’ ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Climate, Tax, and Spending Bill

Expert Expects Insurance Companies to Take Legal Action Against COVID Vaccine Makers Over ‘Early’ and ‘Unexpected’ Deaths

Republicans Warn Democrats Will ‘Pay the Price’ for Spending Bill

Beto O’Rourke Chased Away from Texas Venue by Throngs of Abbott Supporters as Kid Rock Plays in the Background

Trump Easily Wins Texas CPAC 2024 GOP Presidential Nomination Straw Poll

Over 45 Shot Friday into Sunday Morning in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago

Actress Severely Burned After Crashing Into Home, Video Shows Her Speeding Through Neighborhood Shortly Before Wreck

No Matter How You Slice It, French Scientist’s ‘Distant Star’ Photo Makes a Valid Point About Fake News

Democrats Seethe After Bernie Sanders Tells the ‘Truth’ About the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’

Volodymyr Zelensky Asks Xi Jinping for Talks, Invites China to Rebuild Ukraine

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.