DOJ's Inspector General Report on Russia Delayed as Steele Found Credible

[hlthe2b]

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/07/09/dojs-inspector-general-report-on-russia-delayed-as-steele-found-credible/

Three attorneys from the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Justice met in person in early June with dossier author Christopher Steele in Britain, said two sources with direct knowledge of the lawyers’ travels. The interview with Steele, a former top spy on Russia for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, took place while Trump was in London for a formal state visit with Queen Elizabeth and a meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

After those conversations with Steele, the timeline for issuing the I.G. report was pushed back. 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.

If this reporting is correct, it casts a new light on the story Fox News was telling over the Fourth of July weekend:

Key witnesses sought for questioning by Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz early in his investigation into alleged government surveillance abuse have come forward at the 11th hour, Fox News has learned. --snip--

If the one key witness referred to here is actually Christopher Steele, and Steele was found “sufficiently credible” such that the investigation needed to be extended, that’s not exactly what the president and his supporters were hoping to hear.

More at link above including more details on Fox News attempt to spin this story

[hlthe2b]

1. Interesting comment on this from Matthew Miller (trying to track down more detail...)

I am fascinated by Christopher Steele's decision to read out his interviews with the IG to reporters and what, if anything, that means about what the report is going to say.

Link to tweet

[hlthe2b]

2. Consistent with these comments: NYT: Christopher Steele Concerned He Will Be Thrown under Bus...

NYT's Matthew Rosenberg: Christopher Steele Concerned He Will Be Thrown Under The Bus

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/06/04/nyts_matthew_rosenberg_christopher_steele_concerned_he_will_be_thrown_under_the_bus.html


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NYT's Matthew Rosenberg: Christopher Steele Concerned He Will Be Thrown Under The Bus
Posted By Ian Schwartz
On Date June 4, 2019

New York Times Matthew Rosenberg said Christopher Steele, author of the Steele dossier, is increasingly concerned that he will be thrown under the bus after he speaks to investigators about the role he played in the Trump-Russia probe. Rosenberg, calling Steele "simply a source of information," said the British national had "nothing to do" with any misuse of the dossier for FISA warrant purposes.

"He is incredibly concerned and obsessed this investigation is going to throw him under the bus. And his view, at least from the people close to him, is, 'Look, I was working on this dossier that people were paying for. I saw things that the Democrats were paying for. I saw things that seemed frightening to me and alarming. I went to old contacts of the FBI to tell them. I wasn't a paid source in this case.' That's his view of it," Rosenberg reported on Tuesday's 'CNN Tonight' with host Don Lemon.

"He was simply helping them out. And what they did with it, if they used -- misused it in a FISA, whatever they did, he had nothing to do with that. Which is to a degree true. He's not part of that process. He was simply a source of information. And I think he's acutely concerned he's going to be thrown under the bus here," Rosenberg said.

[UTUSN]

3. Ty. There seems to be an anti-STEELE coterie around here/GD.

[hlthe2b]

4. Really? Why on earth?

[UTUSN]

5. If I knew!1 I've highlighted the word "credible" in the different threads & got slapped down.

Can't link, am on phone.

[UTUSN]

7. ***See this thread (O.P. is fine) :

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212259670

See subthread, Posts 8-26

[hlthe2b]

6. Natasha Bertrand comments:

The interview delved into Steele’s extensive work on Russian interference efforts globally, his intelligence-collection methods and his findings about Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Steele’s American lawyer was present for the conversation.

The extensive interview with Steele, and the investigators’ sense that he offered new and important information, may dampen expectations among the president’s allies who’ve claimed that Steele’s sensational dossier was used improperly by the bureau to “spy” on the campaign.

Link to tweet