With the release of Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s FISA report, it is clear that Christopher Steele, the man who kickstarted the Mueller investigation with his infamous “dossier,” exaggerated hearsay claims and reported them as fact. Here to corroborate this was Steele’s very own “Primary Sub-source.”
The identity of Steele’s primary sub-source has not been disclosed to the public. Steele never even disclosed the identity of his primary sub-source to the FBI. The FBI identified him or her by January 2017, however, and arranged a meeting.
In the meeting, the primary sub-source told the FBI “that he/she had not seen Steele’s reports until they became public that month, and that he/she made statements indicating that Steele misstated or exaggerated the Primary Sub-source’s statements in multiple sections of the reporting,” the report reads.
In March 2017, the primary sub-source was questioned again by a Washington Field Office agent and repeated the same conclusion: that Steele was exaggerating hearsay as conclusive.
“The Primary Sub-source was questioned again by the FBI beginning in March 2017 about election reporting and his/her communications with Steele. The Washington Field Office Agent who conducted that interview and others after it told the OIG that the primary sub-source felt that the tenor of Steele’s report was far more ‘conclusive’ than was justified,” the report reads.
In that same interview, the primary sub-source admitted that his or her sub-sub sources were not privy to the information they were spilling. Their allegations were based on “multiple levels of hearsay.”
He or she also said they were unable to corroborate any of the hearsay. The primary sub-source reported this to the counterintelligence team, known as the “Crossfire Hurricane team,” as well. Yet the counterintelligence team still proceeded with the Mueller investigation and filed multiple FISA applications to spy on former Trump aide Carter Page despite knowing their information was uncorroborated hearsay.
The primary sub-source also indicated the allegations against Page, such as Page allegedly accepting bribes from Russian energy conglomerate President Igor Sechin, were falsified. A sub-sub source handed over text messages to the FBI showing Steele’s allegations against Page were false.
“We reviewed the texts and did not find any discussion of a bribe, whether as an interest in [the energy conglomerate] itself or a ‘brokerage.’”
These revelations reveal two things. First, Steele is a liar and the Mueller investigation was started under false pretenses. Second, the counterintelligence team knew their sources’ information was uncorroborated, yet pursued investigations and wiretaps anyway. The IG report speaks for itself regarding the FBI’s motivations since 2016.
