Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who compiled the hoax dossier alleging ties between President Donald Trump and Russia, refuses to cooperate with the Department of Justice’s investigation into the origins of the Obama administration’s spying on then-candidate Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, according to Reuters.
A Reuters source close to Steele’s private investigation outfit, Orbis Business Intelligence, said the ex-spy has chosen not to answer questions from Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was recently appointed by Attorney General William Barr to examine the probe’s origins. Reports of Steele’s unwillingness to cooperate with the Justice Department comes days after President Trump gave Barr authority to declassify intelligence materials related to the probe and ordered several law enforcement agencies, including the CIA and FBI to cooperate with Durham’s review.
In 2016, Steele was hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS tasked by attorneys for the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign to dig up dirt on President Trump. Steele’s dossier was used by the FBI to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant to surveil members of the Trump campaign, namely, onetime Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page. FBI officials did not disclose explicitly to the FISA court that the dossier was paid for by the DNC or the Clinton campaign. However, the bureau did indicate that the document was produced as opposition research.
ICE involved in shooting after agency says illegal immigrant gang member tried to ram officer
Massachusetts mom offers to admit killing 3 children as prosecutors push back on move that could dodge prison
Blanche rolls out fraud crackdown in first remarks since Bondi ouster
Trump Iran threat sparks calls for his ouster, but one Dem says effort ‘not realistic’
Report: ‘Positive’ Development in US-Iran Talks as Clock Ticks Toward Deadline
Trump’s threat to end Iranian ‘civilization’ sparks uproar on Capitol Hill
Trump DOJ Says Not So Fast as Mamdani Announces ‘Racial Equity Plan’
Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed to replace Stephen Colbert on CBS next month
Trump calls into Vance-Orban Hungary event: ‘My kind of people’
Ex-Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene joins left-wing calls for the 25th amendment as Iran deadline nears
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Floats New Tactic for Cracking Down on Sanctuary Cities
MTG cites 25th Amendment as she calls out Trump over Iran
Daughter of missing American woman in Bahamas says there were ‘prior issues,’ calls for full investigation
Aaron Rupar, Trump-Obsessed Lib Clip Farmer, Gets Glowing Profile From One of UK’s Most Prestigious Papers
Indianapolis official’s home attacked after vote in favor of controversial data center
In a recent interview with the Fox News Channel, Barr said his department is examining if “government officials abused their power and put their thumb on the scale” at the start of the FBI’s counterintelligence operation.
“I’ve been trying to get answers to the questions, and I’ve found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate, and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together. In a sense, I have more questions today than when I first started,” the attorney general told anchor Bill Hemmer.
“The source close to Steele’s company said Steele would not cooperate with Durham’s probe but might cooperate with a parallel inquiry by the Justice Department’s Inspector General into how U.S. law enforcement agencies handled pre-election investigations into both Trump and Clinton,” according to Reuters.
Story cited here.
