Christopher Steele could not prove any of the charges in his case file, despite the fact the FBI offered him $1 million to do so, an intel official said on Tuesday.
Notwithstanding, the FBI used the dossier to obtain wiretaps to monitor people affiliated with Donald Trump and build a story of a treasonous connection between the former president and Russia.
Fabricated
FBI senior analyst Brian Auten revealed the truth during the hearing of Igor Danchenko, Steele’s unidentified “Primary Sub-Source.”
He provided Steele with anti-Trump information fabricated by a Hillary Clinton supporter and is now facing prosecution on multiple charges of lying to the FBI.
Steele was employed by Fusion GPS, which Clinton’s campaign litigators appointed to dig up dirt linking Trump to Russia. According to Auten, the FBI never rewarded Steele because he could not “prove the accusations” in his dossier.
Auten stated, in response to questions from Special Counsel John Durham, who is charging Danchenko, that Steele neglected to disclose his sources’ identities to the FBI during their planned meeting, a month before the 2016 election.
On October 3, 2016, many key FBI officials and Steele formally met overseas.
The FBI then offered Steele $1 million to substantiate his dossier, which featured many inaccurate and fabricated allegations about Trump’s collusion with Russia to win the presidency.
As Auten has since shown numerous times, Steele lacked evidence that his findings were accurate.
Despite Steele’s failure to prove the bogus charges of conspiracy and collaboration, the FBI used the report in its original Oct. 21 petition to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, requesting authority to monitor Trump, his associates, and Carter Page.
The FBI knew the Steele Dossier was bogus.
But the Comey Cabal wanted to take down Trump so bad that they were willing to pay Steele $1 million to prove his phony claims.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 12, 2022
The dossier was also incorporated in three further FISA renewal petitions, which prolonged the intelligence community’s investigation against Trump. It was eventually judged unconstitutional and an abuse of power.
Steele and his employer continued to promote the hoax, despite this. Steele and Fusion GPS coordinated with mainstream media to disseminate the unconfirmed, disproved material to the voting population.
Steele and Fusion GPS organized with the mainstream press to distribute the unproven and discredited material to the voting public.
A Contradiction
The testimony of Auten contradicts what the FBI told Congress concerning Steele and his dossier. During a briefing with Congress on March 8, 2017, the FBI stated Steele was not compensated.
Instead, the FBI stated they just funded Steele’s travel expenses to “meet with us,” omitting the fact they had given him $1 million to establish something he could not.
Although it is correct that DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz was aware the FBI offered money to Steele and mentioned this in his FISA abuse report, he did not specify the amount.
It is unclear whether the FBI refused to provide the inspector general with the precise figure or whether Horowitz just opted not to make that number public.
Justice IG Horowitz FISA report described offer of $$$ FBI made Steele for dossier info: "The FBI told Steele that the FBI was willing to compensate him 'significantly.'" Did IG know that meant $1 million? If so, shouldn't IG have said so? If not, did FBI hide that info from IG?
— Eric Felten (@ETFelten) October 12, 2022
During his trial, Danchenko also presented contradictory statements. The Russian national claimed he acquired vital information via an unidentified phone conversation with Sergei Millian, the former chief of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.
Prosecutors, however, assert neither physical evidence nor phone records show Danchenko ever interacted with Millian.
Danchenko also stated he never discussed the report with Democrat strategist Charles Dolan, who worked for Clinton’s campaign. Prosecutors, however, stated evidence indicates otherwise.
This article appeared in The Political Globe and has been published here with permission.
