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Questions grow about FBI vetting of Christopher Steele's Russia expertise (opens to video)
[The Hill] In February 2016, as Christopher Steele’s Russia-related contacts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI were ramping up, the former British spy emailed some intelligence reports from his Orbis security company to a potential private-sector client.The documents were labeled "Orbis Russian Leadership Reporting," and the cover email made a most provocative claim: Russian leader Vladimir Putin might be losing his grip on power. "I also don’t believe any Russian client or associate will admit to a Western business contact that PUTIN has been weakened or is on the way out, as the intel suggests, out of fear of being branded an oppositionist," Steele cautioned the recipient. "We shall see but I hope you find them informative/useful anyway." As for the nature of the reports, Steele boasted in his Feb. 8, 2016, email, "All are sensitive source, of course, and need handling accordingly with anyone Russian or Ukrainian." It is unclear whether Steele also shared those same reports with his handlers at the DOJ, the FBI or the State Department. At the time, he was in contact with the No. 4 Justice official, Bruce Ohr. But more than two-and-a-half years later, Steele’s intelligence seems debunked in retrospect. Putin is firmly entrenched in power and, in the summer and fall of 2016, he pulled off one of his most daring feats against the Western world with his meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Posted by: Besoeker 2018-11-20 |
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