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.
Trump Announces California’s Time Has Come – ‘Fraud Investigation’ Underway
Hillary Clinton Marks Jan. 6 with a Huge Lie About Trump’s Actions on the Day
Trump says Democrats are ‘meaner’ than Republicans, warns of impeachment if GOP loses midterms
Trump pitches cognitive tests for leaders, questions if Harris, Walz, Newsom could pass
Breaking: Republican Congressman Doug LaMalfa Dies Suddenly at Age 65
CDC Significantly Alters Childhood Vaccine Schedule After ‘Exhaustive Review of the Evidence’
Iran rolls out $7 payments to quell affordability protests
Republican congressman hospitalized after car accident, sources say
Republicans rally behind Trump’s military strike to arrest Maduro as Democrats sound alarm: poll
Trial underway for former Uvalde school police officer accused of slow response to shooting
Frantic 911 calls detail moments before Columbus dentist and wife found dead: ‘There’s a body’
Maduro’s wife suffered ‘significant injuries’ in dramatic capture, attorney alleges
Trump rallies House GOP at Kennedy Center days after Maduro capture
Victor Davis Hanson Gives Health Update After Undergoing Major Operation
Donald Trump and 1980s Deja Vu: Maduro’s Capture Just Latest Example
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.
