Three footnotes from the DOJ IG report shows that the FBI knew that the Steele dossier was nothing more that Russian disinformation, but they used it anyway to get a FISA warrant against Carter Page, so they could spy on Donald Trump.How did Michael Horowitz not see this as a criminal enterprise? Let’s hope AG Bill Barr and his hand picked prosecutor John Durham see it that way.
The footnotes were classified but were declassified at the end of last week. Barr has previously stated that he has seen evidence of wrongdoing by the FBI and the CIA and that he is expecting indictments to result from Durham’s investigation. This should definitely be one of those indictments. Hiding exculpatory evidence is a Brady violation and a felony.
- The FBI received information that Russian disinformation might have been fed to Christopher Steele, whose dossier played a “central” role in the bureau’s investigation of the Trump campaign.
- The bombshell disclosures are in newly unredacted footnotes contained in the Justice Department inspector general’s report on the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump campaign.
- An FBI unit had concerns as far back as 2015 about Steele’s relationships with Russian oligarchs, one footnote stated.
- The FBI was provided assessments that Steele’s claims about Michael Cohen and a trip that Donald Trump made to Moscow in 2013 were products of Russian disinformation, another footnote said.
The FBI received evidence that Russian disinformation polluted the infamous Steele dossier, according to information declassified Friday from the Justice Department inspector general’s report of the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump campaign.
FBI officials also had concerns as far back as 2015 of dossier author Christopher Steele’s relationship to Russian oligarchs, but those were never shared with the FBI team that led the Trump investigation.
Despite those red flags, the FBI continued relying on Steele’s information in applications to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page, the former Trump campaign aide.
The bombshell disclosures were made Friday in response to repeated requests from Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson to disclose four redacted footnotes in the IG report.
“It’s ironic that the Russian collusion narrative was fatally flawed because of Russian disinformation,” the two Republicans said in a statement. “These footnotes confirm that there was a direct Russian disinformation campaign in 2016, and there were ties between Russian intelligence and a presidential campaign – the Clinton campaign, not Trump’s.”