New memo: Second Steele report was based on input from Clinton allies

by WorldTribune Staff, February 6, 2018

A Jan. 4 memo, just released by the Senate Judiciary Committee, reveals that allies of Hillary Clinton fed information to ex-British spy Christopher Steele which they considered damaging to then-GOP candidate Donald Trump.

The new information came to light in a criminal referral against Steele sent to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican.

‘There is substantial evidence suggesting that (Christopher) Steele materially misled the FBI about a key aspect of his dossier efforts.’

The referral concerns a separate report by Steele who is the author of the now-discredited Trump “dossier”.

That “dossier” has been “revealed to be a political opposition research report by the Clinton campaign and the DNC that was presented in the FISA applications by the FBI as a counterintelligence document“, according to reports following the declassification Friday of an explosive memo by the House Intelligence Committee members.

“It is troubling enough that the Clinton Campaign funded Mr. Steele’s work, but that these Clinton associates were contemporaneously feeding Mr. Steele allegations raises additional concerns about his credibility,” the criminal referral states.

“There is substantial evidence suggesting that Mr. Steele materially misled the FBI about a key aspect of his dossier efforts, one which bears on his credibility,” Grassley and Graham said.

Grassley and Graham filed the criminal referral after comparing information the FBI provided to the Judiciary Committee to statements made by Steele in a British court.

“…When information in those classified documents is evaluated in light of sworn statements by Mr. Steele in British litigation, it appears that either Mr. Steele lied to the FBI or the British court, or that the classified documents reviewed by the Committee contain materially false statements,” the criminal referral states.

The Senate Judiciary Committee sent the criminal referral to the DOJ on Jan. 4. It took more than a month of the committee negotiating with the DOJ before the referral, classified Top Secret, was made public.

Even then, the referral was heavily redacted.

The Grassley-Graham memo reads: “One memorandum by Mr. Steele that was not published by Buzzfeed is dated October 19, 2016. The report alleges (redacted), as well as (redacted). Mr. Steele’s memorandum states that his company ‘received this report from (redacted) U.S. State Department,’ that the report was the second in a series, and that the report was information that came from a foreign sub-source who ‘is in touch with (redacted) U.S. State Department,’ that the report was the second in a series, and that the report was information that came from a sub-source who ‘is in touch with (redacted), a contact of (redacted) of (redacted) a friend of the Clintons, who passed it to (redacted).”

According to Grassley and Graham, Steele had already been trolling for information on Trump and his campaign before being hired by Fusion GPS, which was paid by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC).

“Pursuant to that business arrangement, Mr. Steele prepared a series of documents styled as intelligence reports, some of which were later compiled into a ‘dossier’ and published by Buzzfeed in January 2017,” the referral states. “On the face of the dossier, it appears that Mr. Steele gathered much of his information from Russian government sources inside Russia.”

Investigative journalist Sara Carter reported on Feb. 5 that “According to several U.S. Officials who spoke to this reporter, Cody Shearer, a former journalist and close ally of Hillary and Bill Clinton, was closely connected to Steele and shared information with the former spy. Shearer worked in the 90s for President Bill Clinton.

“Steele, whose prior work with British intelligence gave him access to U.S. intelligence and State Department officials, also appeared to be in contact with Jonathan Winer, a current State Department official who also worked under then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

Winer “is the State Department’s Special Envoy for Libya and Senior Advisor for MEK resettlement,” according to the State Department website.

Sidney Blumenthal, a close friend and adviser to Hillary Clinton, was also said to have been used as a source by Steele, Carter reported.


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