One item from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) publication of Fusion GPS CEO Glenn Simpson’s Aug. 2017 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that has not gotten too much attention is the part where the spy responsible for producing the Trump-Russia collusion dossier, Christopher Steele, tipped off the FBI in early July 2016.According to Simpson, "I believe it was ... [the] first week of July..." citing public sources.
Well, that was before George Papadopoulos reportedly entered the picture. According to the New York Times’ report published on Dec. 30, 2017, "when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role."
The Democratic National Committee emails began appearing on Wikileaks on July 22, 2016.
Meaning, by the time the Australian diplomat had tipped off the FBI about George Papadopoulos ‐ who apparently was bragging in a bar in May 2016 that the Russians had emails that would make Hillary Clinton look bad ‐ Steele had already told the FBI about his first memo dated June 20, 2016, that alleged the Russians had Donald Trump on tape with prostitutes at a hotel in Moscow.
Now, whether it was Steele’s contact with the FBI in early July or the Australian diplomat later that compelled the FBI to open its investigation, per Simpson’s testimony, by mid-September, the agency wanted everything Steele had. Steele most certainly played a role in the agency’s investigation.
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