The Justice Department is reportedly preparing to go after the author of Trump-Russia dossier
Source: Politico
By NATASHA BERTRAND 04/17/2019 06:47 PM EDT Updated 04/17/2019 08:25 PM EDT
The frenzied anticipation around special counsel Robert Muellers full report has overshadowed another Justice Department report on the Russia probe that could land as soon as next month, and which will likely take direct aim at the former British spy behind an infamous dossier on President Donald Trumps ties to Russia.
For the past year, the Justice Departments inspector general, Michael Horowitz, has been examining the FBIs efforts to surveil a one-time Trump campaign adviser based in part on information from Christopher Steele, a former British MI6 agent who had worked with the bureau as a confidential source since 2010.
Several people interviewed by the Inspector Generals office over the past year tell POLITICO that Horowitzs team has been intensely focused on gauging Steeles credibility as a source for the bureau. One former U.S. official left the interview with the impression that the Inspector Generals final report is going to try and deeply undermine Steele, who spent over two decades working Russia for MI6 before leaving to launch his own corporate intelligence firm.
Thursdays planned release of the full Mueller report by the Justice Department could shed new light on Steeles role, and the veracity of the controversial dossier he assembled in 2016, featuring explosiveand in some cases sexually luridcharges of Kremlin influence over Trump and his associates.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/17/mueller-report-steele-justice-department-1280578
madaboutharry
(40,234 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)Response to pangaia (Reply #2)
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ZZenith
(4,130 posts)Like hell we are. You might curl up in a fetal position but the rest of us are going to fight and we are going to remove them. The entire world stands opposed to these bastards - they WILL taste defeat before this is all through.
Response to ZZenith (Reply #19)
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C_U_L8R
(45,025 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)History will not be kind to those who attempt to smear Steele.
at140
(6,110 posts)In the meanwhile healthcare, immigration, national debt, record budget deficits, climate change, green energy etc just all talk and no action.
Response to at140 (Reply #4)
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onecaliberal
(32,931 posts)Because the piece of shit in the senate will not even allow votes. The orange cancerous pustule will never sign any of it.
BigmanPigman
(51,642 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
at140
(6,110 posts)got together and passed much bi-partisan legislation.
Bill Clinton did the same thing, and we had another prosperous period.
This gridlock in DC is holding up legislation on so many critical issues.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Literally, never.
at140
(6,110 posts)If Reagan & speaker O'Neill could do deals,
And Bill Clinton & speaker Newt could do deals,
Why it does not happen anymore? Country is deteriorating in the absence of good deals. The coming recession is going to wipe off the middle class, what's left of it.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Shame beyond description for those who want to compromise with Nazis!
(Hey, Adolf, we'd settle for you only killing 3 million Jews, what do you think?)
at140
(6,110 posts)the issues are not on the level of exterminating a class of people.
Affordable healthcare, green energy, immigration reform, stupid lower than inflation rate interest rates, horrible destruction of manufacturing jobs due to ugly trade deficits, rebuilding crumbling infra-structure etc etc do not rise to the level of murdering 6 million in gas ovens.
Sooner both sides sit down and compromise the better. A bitterly divided country is on the path of self-destruction.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)You know the minds of the GOP's members enough to assert that?
Cause from where I'm sittin' it looks like they want to kill a whole lot of Muslims, for a start.
at140
(6,110 posts)to support the maximum devout Muslim countries such as, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE etc.
He keeps berating mostly Iran & Syria.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)You're looking at someone pulling the wings off flies.
They will graduate to bigger and worse things like all sadists.
at140
(6,110 posts)You would make a good switch hitter for the Chicago Cubs.
IndyOp
(15,535 posts)PeeJ52
(1,588 posts)to question Steele. Someone said the press conference may announce the investigation into the "oranges" of the Mueller investigation. I'm getting that feeling too. They are going on offense.
watoos
(7,142 posts)he can take care of himself. Bring it traitors.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,222 posts)FakeNoose
(32,823 posts)ancianita
(36,160 posts)and all that was the trigger to the Steele dossier. BEFORE the Steele dossier.
There's no impugning the origins of the Special Counsel's appointment or investigation. AT ALL.
This right here -- Barr's ordering of the inspector general of Michael Steele -- is the true witch hunt.
The DOJ had all the reason it needed from US Intel to start the Mueller investigation --
-- In 2014 Obama received the intel,
-- Obama kicked out 35 Russian "diplomats," confiscating their New York, Maryland real estate,
-- Obama's meeting with congressional leaders in charge of oversight
-- Mitch McConnell's threat to spin the problem as "fake" to media
Corgigal
(9,291 posts)We have a national security threat attacking an ally of the U.S., which put everyone at risk. We cannot allow this behavior, we need cooperation to keep us safe.
Hello?
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)You know, cause of the those Dept. Policies he talked about last month, where if 'Charges Aren't Being Filed, the Bureau has no Business Publicly Impugning the Subject(s) of it's Investigations!!1!!'.
We can TOTALLY count on that Dept. Policy being a totally real thing, and he'll make sure it's adhered to rigorously in all cases.
SKKY
(11,826 posts)...I don't think they want to know everything. I'm sure, in their lust for revenge, they think they do. But something tells me they really don't. I mean, really, really don't.
sarabelle
(453 posts)Steel was not the only source of warnings to the US about Russian interference. Others may come forward that will ultimately add veracity to the warnings and basis for the intel operations by the US intel community. There were several sources for alerting the Obama administration to Russian interference. Reopening this issue may confirm the necessity for believing the Steel dossier.
Judi Lynn
(160,649 posts)sarabelle
(453 posts)stopdiggin
(11,387 posts)It has been speculated that Steele might have been fed misinformation (probably along with good/valid material) as part of the overall Russian scheme of disruption. The Russian's have been honing this type of disinformation campaign for years. Steele, having dealt with this system for years, was undoubtedly supremely aware of the duplicitous nature of any intel coming out of certain areas. In short, a person this experienced would be unlikely to couch anything as factual unless it was checked and verified against several other sources. Much more likely, in the margins, there would be lots of, "there were reports .." or "it was suggested .." As other posters have noted, Steele was only picking up what our own and other intelligence sources (mainly our allies) were hearing at the same time. Even if the Steele report was horribly flawed (which I doubt) .. it would have had no influence on the hundred other threads that were setting off intelligence alarms. Going after Steele is Republican spin .. and nothing more.
meadowlander
(4,408 posts)Agents? And then kept going to Russia? And taking money to speak at organisations backed by the Kremlin?
atreides1
(16,094 posts)I believe that the IG was compromised during the McCabe investigation! Michael Horowitz is a Trump man...
Freethinker65
(10,070 posts)I think the WH wants everyone to concentrate on the dossier that included lots of truth and some disinformation.
I suspect our former allies intelligence services will come forward to say that they provided information that was even more valuable to the FBI. It was an investigation into unprecedented Russian meddling in our election and intelligence services saw it as it happened.
Trump and the WH may very well get away with it by saying they were unaware/duped. This might even have been true at the beginning, especially for clueless Trump (everyone, even some really shady characters, just love him so much they want to help out of the goodness of their hearts), but when confronted with evidence he was being used, his ego just could not admit it.
The Steele dossier is/was not crucial to the investigation.