Criminal Referral Confirms Memo's Explosive Claims Of FISA Abuse
Christopher Steele
A criminal referral from top Senate investigators confirms explosive charges in last weekâs House Intelligence Committee memo regarding abuse of surveillance authorities at the FBI and Department of Justice. It also reveals a host of problems arising from the bureauâs cooperation with  foreign investigator Christopher Steele   who was working on behalf of Hillary Clintonâs presidential campaign. The eight-page memo from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) includes underlying evidence to support the claims.
âIt appears the FBI relied on admittedly uncorroborated information  funded by and obtained for Secretary Clintonâs presidential campaign  in order to conduct surveillance of an associate of the opposing presidential candidate. It did so based on  Mr. Steele âs personal credibility and presumably having faith in his process of obtaining the information. But 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 â Sens. Graham and Grassley wrote.
The letter describes a verification effort before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) so inadequate it resembles a concerted effort to conceal information from the court. However  the senators blame Steeleâs âapparent deceptionâ for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) failures by FBI and Justice  and refer  Steele  for investigation of violating federal law regarding making false statements to the U.S. government. The letter also reveals Clinton associates were feeding  Steele  allegations that  he  used in  his  reports.
A salacious and unverified dossier formed an essential part of the application to secure a warrant against a Trump campaign affiliate named Carter Page. This application failed to reveal that the dossier was bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. The application presented a Yahoo News article as corroboration for the dossier  when in fact it was sourced to the dossierâs author Christopher Steele. The wife of a high-ranking Justice Department official also worked on behalf of the Clinton campaign effort  and her husband Bruce Ohr funneled her research into the Department of Justice. Although he admitted that  Steele  âwas desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president â this and the Ohrsâ relationship with the Clinton campaign was concealed from the secret court that grants surveillance warrants. The dossier was âonly minimally corroboratedâ and unverified  according to FBI officials.
Evidence supporting all of these claims is included in a less redacted version of the senatorsâ January 4  2018  referral made publicly available late Tuesday evening. A highly redacted version of the referral was made publicly available the previous day  causing Grassley to ask the FBI to aim for more transparency. The FBI had previously attempted to keep the public from learning details of its relationship with  Steele   leading Grassley to publicly decry a âbureaucratic game of hide the ballâ by the FBI and DOJ.
According to the senators  the FBI relied on dossier author Steeleâs alleged credibility â as opposed to corroboration or verification of his salacious and improbable claims â for the initial warrant application and its three renewals. The application also mentioned a Yahoo News article  but not only didnât mention the article was sourced to an anonymous  Steele   it positively claimed it wasnât.
Reporter Michael Isikoff recently confirmed that  Steele  was obviously  his  source for the article  and that Clintonâs Russia dossier project head Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS was a longtime friend. The FBI stated to the court that  Steele  had nothing to do with the article. Shopping his unverified allegations to the media was contrary to Steeleâs agreement with the FBI. Even after  Steele  publicly testified about  his  many media contacts  the FBI hid that part of  his  dossier operation from the court and continued to rely on  his  credibility for surveillance reauthorization.
[REDACTED]  the application attempts to explain away the inconsistency between Mr. Steeleâs assertion to the FBI and the existence of the article  apparently to shield Mr. Steeleâs credibility on which it still relied for the renewal request. The application to the FISC said: âGiven that the information contained in the September 23rd news article generally matches the information about Page that [ Steele ] discovered doing  his /her research  [REDACTED] The FBI does not believe that [ Steele ] directly provided this information to the pressâ (emphasis added).
Even After Terminating  Steele  For Unauthorized Contacts With Media  FBI Claimed He Hadnât Talked To Yahoo
In footnote 9 of its January 2017 application to renew the FISA warrant for Mr. Page  the FBI again addressed Mr. Steeleâs credibility. At that time  the FBI noted that it had suspended its relationship with  Mr. Steele  in October 2016 because of Steeleâs âunauthorized disclosure of information to the press.â â¦ In defending  Mr. Steeleâs  credibility to the FISC  the FBI had posited an innocuous explanation for the September 23 article  based on the assumption that  Mr. Steele  had told the FBI the truth about  his  press contacts. The FBI then vouched for  him  twice more  using the same rationale  in subsequent renewal applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in April and June 2017.
 Steele  Was So Political  He  Flagrantly Violated  His  FBI Agreement Over Reopening Of Clinton Investigation
The FBI relayed that  Steele  had been bothered by the FBIâs notification to Congress in October 2016 and the reopening of the Clinton investigation  and as a result â[ Steele ] independently and against the prior admonishment from the FBI to speak only with the FBI on this matter  released the reporting discussed herein [dossier allegations against Page] to an identified news organization.â However the FBI continued to cite  Mr. Steele âs past work as evidence of  his  reliability  and stated that âthe incident that led to the FBI suspending its relationship with [Mr. Steele] occurred after [Mr. Steele] providedâ the FBI with the dossier information described in the application. The FBI further asserted in footnote 19 that it did not believe that  Steele  directly gave information to Yahoo News that âpublished the September 23 News Article.â
Even After  Steele  Publicly Admitted In Court To His Media Operation  The FBI Hid It
In  Steele âs sworn court filings in litigation in London   he  admitted that  he  âgave off the record briefings to a small number of journalists about the pre-election memoranda [i.e.  the dossier] in late summer/autumn 2016.â In another sworn filing in that case   Mr. Steele  further stated that journalists from âthe New York Times  the Washington Post  Yahoo News  the New Yorker  and CNNâ were âbriefed at the end of September 2016 by [ Steele ] and Fusion at Fusionâs instruction.âThe filing further states that  Mr. Steele â subsequently participated in further meetings at Fusionâs instruction with Fusion and the New York Times  the Washington Post  and Yahoo News  which took place mid-October 2016.ââ¦ The first of these filings was publicly reported in the U.S. media in April of 2017  yet the FBI did not subsequently disclose to the ISC this evidence suggesting that  Mr. Steele  had lied to the FBI. Instead the application still relied primarily on  his  credibility prior to the October media incident.
Court Wasnât Told  Steele  Was âDesperateâ To Keep Trump From Being Elected
The FBI received similar information from a Justice Department official  Bruce Ohr  who maintained contacts with Mr. Simpson and  Mr. Steele  about their dossier work  and whose wife also worked for Fusion GPS on the Russia project. REDACTED  He  also noted in the same interview that  Mr. Steele  was âdesperateâ to see that Mr. Trump was not elected president. None of the information provided by Mr. Ohr in his interviews with the FBI was included in the FISA renewal applications  despite its relevance to whether  Mr. Steele  had lied to the FBI about  his  contacts with the media as well as its broader relevance to  his  credibility and  his  stated political motive.
A criminal referral from top Senate investigators confirms explosive charges in last weekâs House Intelligence Committee memo regarding abuse of surveillance authorities at the FBI and Department of Justice. It also reveals a host of problems arising from the bureauâs cooperation with  [TGT] . The eight-page memo from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) includes underlying evidence to support the claims.
âIt appears the FBI relied on admittedly uncorroborated information  funded by and obtained for Secretary Clintonâs presidential campaign  in order to conduct surveillance of an associate of the opposing presidential candidate. It did so based on   [TGT]  âs personal credibility and presumably having faith in  [TGT]  process of obtaining the information. But there is substantial evidence suggesting that   [TGT] materially misled the FBI about a key aspect of   [TGT]   dossier efforts  one which bears on   [TGT]   credibility â Sens. Graham and Grassley wrote.
The letter describes a verification effort before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) so inadequate it resembles a concerted effort to conceal information from the court. However  the senators blame Steeleâs âapparent deceptionâ for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) failures by FBI and Justice  and refer  Steele  for investigation of violating federal law regarding making false statements to the U.S. government. The letter also reveals Clinton associates were feeding   [TGT] allegations that   [TGT]   used in   [TGT]   reports.
A salacious and unverified dossier formed an essential part of the application to secure a warrant against a Trump campaign affiliate named Carter Page. This application failed to reveal that the dossier was bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. The application presented a Yahoo News article as corroboration for the dossier  when in fact it was sourced to the dossierâs author Christopher Steele. The wife of a high-ranking Justice Department official also worked on behalf of the Clinton campaign effort  and her husband Bruce Ohr funneled her research into the Department of Justice. Although he admitted that  Steele  âwas desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president â this and the Ohrsâ relationship with the Clinton campaign was concealed from the secret court that grants surveillance warrants. The dossier was âonly minimally corroboratedâ and unverified  according to FBI officials.
Evidence supporting all of these claims is included in a less redacted version of the senatorsâ January 4  2018  referral made publicly available late Tuesday evening. A highly redacted version of the referral was made publicly available the previous day  causing Grassley to ask the FBI to aim for more transparency. The FBI had previously attempted to keep the public from learning details of its relationship with  Steele   leading Grassley to publicly decry a âbureaucratic game of hide the ballâ by the FBI and DOJ.
According to the senators  the FBI relied on dossier author Steeleâs alleged credibility â as opposed to corroboration or verification of his salacious and improbable claims â for the initial warrant application and its three renewals. The application also mentioned a Yahoo News article  but not only didnât mention the article was sourced to an anonymous  Steele   it positively claimed it wasnât.
Reporter Michael Isikoff recently confirmed that  Steele  was obviously  his  source for the article  and that Clintonâs Russia dossier project head Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS was a longtime friend. The FBI stated to the court that  Steele  had nothing to do with the article. Shopping his unverified allegations to the media was contrary to Steeleâs agreement with the FBI. Even after  Steele  publicly testified about  his  many media contacts  the FBI hid that part of  his  dossier operation from the court and continued to rely on  his  credibility for surveillance reauthorization.
[REDACTED]  the application attempts to explain away the inconsistency between Mr. Steeleâs assertion to the FBI and the existence of the article  apparently to shield Mr. Steeleâs credibility on which it still relied for the renewal request. The application to the FISC said: âGiven that the information contained in the September 23rd news article generally matches the information about Page that [ Steele ] discovered doing  his /her research  [REDACTED] The FBI does not believe that [ Steele ] directly provided this information to the pressâ (emphasis added).
Even After Terminating  Steele  For Unauthorized Contacts With Media  FBI Claimed He Hadnât Talked To Yahoo
In footnote 9 of its January 2017 application to renew the FISA warrant for Mr. Page  the FBI again addressed Mr. Steeleâs credibility. At that time  the FBI noted that it had suspended its relationship with  Mr. Steele  in October 2016 because of Steeleâs âunauthorized disclosure of information to the press.â â¦ In defending  Mr. Steeleâs  credibility to the FISC  the FBI had posited an innocuous explanation for the September 23 article  based on the assumption that  Mr. Steele  had told the FBI the truth about  his  press contacts. The FBI then vouched for  him  twice more  using the same rationale  in subsequent renewal applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in April and June 2017.
 Steele  Was So Political  He  Flagrantly Violated  His  FBI Agreement Over Reopening Of Clinton Investigation
The FBI relayed that  Steele  had been bothered by the FBIâs notification to Congress in October 2016 and the reopening of the Clinton investigation  and as a result â[ Steele ] independently and against the prior admonishment from the FBI to speak only with the FBI on this matter  released the reporting discussed herein [dossier allegations against Page] to an identified news organization.â However the FBI continued to cite  Mr. Steele âs past work as evidence of  his  reliability  and stated that âthe incident that led to the FBI suspending its relationship with [Mr. Steele] occurred after [Mr. Steele] providedâ the FBI with the dossier information described in the application. The FBI further asserted in footnote 19 that it did not believe that  Steele  directly gave information to Yahoo News that âpublished the September 23 News Article.â
Even After  Steele  Publicly Admitted In Court To His Media Operation  The FBI Hid It
In  Steele âs sworn court filings in litigation in London    [TGT]   admitted that   [TGT]   âgave off the record briefings to a small number of journalists about the pre-election memoranda [i.e.  the dossier] in late summer/autumn 2016.â In another sworn filing in that case   Mr. Steele  further stated that journalists from âthe New York Times  the Washington Post  Yahoo News  the New Yorker  and CNNâ were âbriefed at the end of September 2016 by [ Steele ] and Fusion at Fusionâs instruction.âThe filing further states that  Mr. Steele â subsequently participated in further meetings at Fusionâs instruction with Fusion and the New York Times  the Washington Post  and Yahoo News  which took place mid-October 2016.ââ¦ The first of these filings was publicly reported in the U.S. media in April of 2017  yet the FBI did not subsequently disclose to the ISC this evidence suggesting that  Mr. Steele  had lied to the FBI. Instead the application still relied primarily on  his  credibility prior to the October media incident.
Court Wasnât Told  Steele  Was âDesperateâ To Keep Trump From Being Elected
The FBI received similar information from a Justice Department official  Bruce Ohr  who maintained contacts with Mr. Simpson and  Mr. Steele  about their dossier work  and whose wife also worked for Fusion GPS on the Russia project. REDACTED  He  also noted in the same interview that  Mr. Steele  was âdesperateâ to see that Mr. Trump was not elected president. None of the information provided by Mr. Ohr in his interviews with the FBI was included in the FISA renewal applications  despite its relevance to whether  Mr. Steele  had lied to the FBI about  his  contacts with the media as well as its broader relevance to  his  credibility and  his  stated political motive.