The FBI was still trying to get “further clarity” about anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele and his “reliability” a month after the bureau used the salacious document to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page, according to the Daily Caller.
According to transcripts of FBI lawyer Sally Moyer’s congressional testimony obtained by the news outlet, she and investigators met with DOJ official Bruce Ohr on November 21, 2016 “to get further clarity about Christopher Steele and his reliability.”
Just one month before that meeting, on Oct. 21, 2016, the FBI obtained its first FISA warrant against Page.
Moyer testified that the FBI usually vouches for sources used in obtaining FISA applications and that the FBI was still trying “to figure out if there were other issues or trying to verify the information [Steele] had provided.”
“So they wanted to talk to Bruce Ohr because they knew that he had had a relationship with him, so they were trying to get a better sense of his background, his reputation, the sorts of questions that you would ask others to try to verify your source reliability,” she said.
**LISTEN: Dan discusses the latest explosive revelations from Rep. Devin Nunes**
Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller writes: The FBI had severed ties with Steele around a week before the Nov. 8, 2016 election because of his unauthorized contacts with the media. Steele was quoted anonymously in a story published by Mother Jones on Oct. 31, 2016 that laid out claims that the Kremlin had blackmail material on Trump.
Moyer’s testimony provides new insight into why the FBI asked Ohr to reconnect with Steele. Other FBI and Justice Department officials have said that the FBI wanted to reconnect with Steele after Trump’s election win as part of the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government.
For the full report, click HERE.
