Christopher Steele, the corrupt mind behind the now-discredited 2016 Steele dossier filled with lies about then-candidate Donald Trump, says he has new information about the Republican presidential candidate.
Steele was the center of attention after the dossier accused Trump of inappropriate activities with prostitutes in Moscow. His report fueled years of claims that Trump had questionable ties to Russia. The dossier, funded by a law firm linked to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, was later found to be full of unproven allegations and utterly devoid of facts.
But even now, eight years later, Steele is hopeful that videotapes of the fabricated encounters will drop out of thin air. He insists that there is “more dirt” on Trump, and he vows to release it.
Steele, a former British intelligence officer, has long stood by his dossier, even after many of its claims were proven false. And Democrats lapped it up. Some of his supporters, like former National Security Council official Mark Medish, suggested that Steele should defend only “certain parts” of the report instead of everything in it.
Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the Trump-Russia probe discredited the Steele dossier, which was created solely to imply that Trump was influenced by Russia.
Durham charged Igor Danchenko, the Russian identified as a key source of Steele’s “information,” for making false statements to support the report.
The controversial dossier, funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign through the law firm Perkins Coie, fueled many anti-Trump headlines and TV segments, driving years of intense coverage of the “Russiagate” story. It is now considered to be a scandalous hoax created with no other purpose than interfering in the 2016 election.
However, some have been standing by the Russia collusion hoax as recently as late September. Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos interviewed Aaron Zebley, former special counsel Robert Mueller’s top deputy, and former prosecutor Andrew Goldstein about their new book, Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation. The book was allegedly written to inform the public about the dangers of “election interference.”
Mueller’s investigation looked into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in 2016. Trump often called it a “witch hunt” and pointed out that he was “totally exonerated” after Mueller found no evidence of collusion.
During the interview, Zebley explained that they wrote the book because it has two important messages. The first is that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, and “recent reports suggest they may still be doing it.” The second key point is there needs to be a better way to investigate presidents.
Stephanopoulos pointed out that Trump and his supporters often call this investigation the “Russia Hoax.” Goldstein responded, saying it wasn’t a hoax. He stands by his claim that Russia significantly interfered in 2016.
Zebley took the opportunity to criticize former Attorney General William Barr. He said that Barr didn’t release their report after it was submitted Instead, Barr released a summary, which Zebley believes didn’t “fully represent their work.” He thinks this “created some confusion” about what they had found in their investigation.
But when Stephanopoulos pressed the pair about those findings, Goldstein was forced to admit they didn’t find proof of a conspiracy. He quickly covered his tracks by explaining their report and book detail the “many connections and attempts made by the Russian government” to interfere in the election.
Steele’s humiliation was legendary. He could not provide a single corroborating witness for his claims despite being offered a million dollars by the FBI to do so.
FBI supervisory counterintelligence analyst Brian Auten testified at Dechanko’s trial that he and other FBI agents flew overseas to meet Steele and question him about the dossier. At that time, they offered him the money if he could provide corroboration for his report.
Auten further testified that they used the dossier to issue a FISA warrant to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page, despite knowing its claims were false.
Doubtless, the liberal media will gobble up Steele’s new claims of “more dirt” on Trump. It is probably entirely accidental that this new information was uncovered just before Steele released his book, Unredacted: Russia, Trump, and the Fight for Democracy. It’s an amazing coincidence – what are the odds?