You can’t make this stuff up. The primary source for Christopher Steele’s phony Russian dossier was actually investigated by the FBI during the early Obama years for being a “national security threat” and a “Russian spy” who reportedly offered to pay Obama-connected people for ‘classified information’ if they got jobs in the administration. And the FBI knew all of this in 2016 and still used the dossier to get a FISA investigation:
#Durham BREAKING: The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was deemed a possible “national security threat” + the subject of 2009 FBI counter-intel probe. According to new records, those facts were known to Crossfire Hurricane team in December 2016. @LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/I6Gp4fv98C
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) September 24, 2020
Kimberley Strassel explains it:
1) BREAKING, per @CBS_Herridge and extraordinary.
So Christopher Steele's main source for the dossier? He was the subject of a nearly two-year long FBI counter-intel investigation (2009-2011), under suspicion of being a Russian spy and a "threat to national security."— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
2) Early in Obama admin, subsource "reportedly attempted to recruit two individuals connected to an influential foreign policy advisor" to Obama. Said if they got jobs in the administration and access to classified information, he could help them "make a little extra money."
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
3) FBI says he had previously contact with the Russian Embassy and Russian intelligence officers. Thanks to @paulsperry_ we know the name of this subsource, and that he for a period at this time at Brookings, Democratic think tank.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
THE KICKER:
4) But here's the real kicker, per these documents out from @LindseyGrahamSC The FBI KNEW about this prior CI investigation into the source in DECEMBER OF 2016. It KNEW it was relying on information from a suspected Russian spy!
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
5) The same FBI said to be concerned about Russian interference in election, was using information from a suspected Russian spy to probe a presidential campaign. The same FBI claiming Carter Page a Russian agent, was making that case based on info from a suspected Russia agent.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
6) Most importantly: It never told the FISA court about this CI investigation. It withheld that information and continued re-upping its applications to surveil Page and the campaign. It vouched for information supplied by a suspected Russian agent.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
7) The name of this subsource, and the realization of the FBI's prior suspicions, should have ended the entire probe. Instead the FBI doubled down, hid things from the court, kept going. This again raises urgent need to know who knew what, and when.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
8) And people wonder why #Durham is looking into all this?
Also, extra-credit question: Wasn't it Mueller's job to find sources of Russian disinformation? How do you miss the guy potentially feeding it directly to the FBI?— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
No wonder so many FBI agents purchased professional liability insurance. They knew the crap would hit the fan if anyone ever looked into all of this because their entire investigation was corrupt.
I’ll note that Durham isn’t just looking into this madness, but he’s also comparing their investigation to how the DOJ handled an investigation of corruption into the Clinton Foundation:
Durham has sought documents and interviews about how federal law enforcement officials handled an investigation into allegations of political corruption at the Clinton Foundation https://t.co/K31tF7jJVP @WRashbaum @nicole_hong
— Adam Goldman (@adamgoldmanNYT) September 24, 2020
And you wonder what’s taking him so long? It sounds like he’s being very thorough!