Looks like Christopher Steele has thrown a monkey wrench into the DT team's investigation
of the origins of the Russia investigation.
In an effort to prove that the intelligence agencies under Obama were wrong to have started investigating Trump/Russia (specifically the FISA warrant on Carter Page), three different investigations have been begun. One under John Huber; another under Michael Horowitz; and the most recent, announced by William Barr this spring, headed by attorney John Durham.
The Huber investigation, begun in March 2018, appears to have fallen into a black hole. The Horowitz investigation was supposed to be completed and a report issued in May or June this year. Now it seems to have fallen into the same black hole.
The only logical conclusion (to me) was that Barr knew Huber and Horowitz weren't finding anything nefarious, so he wanted yet ANOTHER ongoing investigation to point to when their reports finally came out and yielded nothing damning.
Now it seems that it was even worse (for Barr) than that. Rep. Meadows, in walking back Barr's promise that Horowitz's report would come out in May or June, said that Horowitz's team might be interviewing Christoper Steele, and could learn new information. Today's Reuter's report says Horowitz did interview Steele in London, and received credible information that is requiring further investigation.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia/trump-dossier-author-grilled-by-justice-department-watchdogs-sources-idUSKCN1U410I
Trump has described the Steele dossier as “bogus” and Republicans have long sought to discredit the FBI’s investigation, which was later taken over by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller. His final report on Russia and the Trump campaign was released in redacted form in mid-April.
In that same month, Attorney General William Barr, who now heads the Justice Department, told a congressional committee that the Horowitz probe would be completed by May or June.
One of the two sources said Horowitz’s investigators appear to have found Steele’s information sufficiently credible to have to extend the investigation. Its completion date is now unclear.
(Source below is the rightwing Examiner. I didn't find anything else that explained why Huber has gotten sidelined. Barr's story is that Huber stepped back when Horowitz began his review; and now Durham is taking over for Huber. In my opinion, Huber was told to step back because he hadn't found anything wrong to report about.)
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/william-barr-dishes-on-what-huber-horowitz-and-durham-are-investigating
Barr said “Huber had originally been asked to take a look at the FISA applications and the electronic surveillance” but that he then “stood back and put that on hold while the Office of Inspector General was conducting its review.”
Barr said Huber “was essentially on standby” in the event that Horowitz “referred a matter to him to be handled criminally.” That apparently has not been necessary, as Barr said “he has not been active on this front in recent months.” Barr said Durham would now be taking over Huber’s role in handling any criminal referrals from Horowitz and Huber’s involvement with Trump-Russia matters was done.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/meadows-predicts-doj-inspector-general-fisa-abuse-report-will-be-late-due-to-new-developments
Horowitz and his team have been investigating alleged FISA abuse by the Justice Department and the FBI since March 2018. The inquiry includes a focus on the FBI’s handling of the unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and its extensive use in the FBI's FISA applications and renewals to target former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Barr said in April that Horowitz would be wrapped up “in probably May or June” but an end-of-the-month deadline looks increasingly unlikely.
“Only Michael Horowitz knows the exact time frame of when it’s coming out. Obviously the attorney general indicated that he hoped to see it in June. I’m not as optimistic now,” Meadows said on Sunday. “One of the reasons for that is additional information has been given to the inspector general for them to investigate.”
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