At the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation lays a question to which the answer could change everything.
Was information compiled in the Fusion GPS dossier used to obtain the FISA warrant to spy on Trump officials? The motivation behind the special counsel’s investigation into thus far unproven ties between the President and Russia was in large part prompted by the now discredited document.
The FISA application included information, first claimed by Fusion GPS by way of former British spy Christopher Steele, detailing an alleged meeting between former Trump advisor Carter Page and Russian energy executives. McCarthy writes Page’s alleged meeting with Russian energy executives, again, first claimed by Fusion GPS, “strongly implies that the FISA application included information from the Steele dossier.”
McCarthy writes:
Even though the FISA warrant targeting Page is classified and the FBI and DOJ have resisted informing Congress about it, some of its contents were illegally and selectively leaked to the Washington Post in April 2017 by sources described as “law enforcement and other U.S. officials.” According to the Post: The government’s application for the surveillance order targeting Page included a lengthy declaration that laid out investigators’ basis for believing that Page was an agent of the Russian government and knowingly engaged in clandestine intelligence activities on behalf of Moscow, officials said. Among other things, the application cited contacts that he had with a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013, officials said. […]
In addition, the application said Page had other contacts with Russian operatives that have not been publicly disclosed, officials said. I’ve emphasized that last portion because it strongly implies that the FISA application included information from the Steele dossier. That is, when the Post speaks of Page’s purported “other contacts with Russian operatives that have not been publicly disclosed,” this is very likely a reference to the meetings with Sechin and Diveykin that Page denies having had — the meetings described in the dossier.
McCarthy isn’t the only one who believes the dossier was likely used to spy on Trump officials. Recently, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) joined Fox Business News host Lou Dobbs, laying out his theory connecting the discredited document to surveillance of Trump officials.
Rep. Jim Jordan: There are a couple of fundamental questions here. Did the FBI pay Christopher Steele? I asked that of the Attorney General two weeks ago he wouldn’t answer the question. Did they actually vet this dossier?… Because it’s been disproven, a bunch of lies, a bunch of National Enquirer garbage and fake news in this thing. Did they actually check it out before they brought it to the FISA Court which I’m convinced they did. And all of this can be cleared up if they release the application that they took to the court… I think they won’t give it to us because they did pay Christopher Steele. I think they did use the dossier as the basis for the warrants to spy on Americans associated with President Trump’s campaign… (Strzok) is the guy who took the dossier to the Fisa Court.
Via Lou Dobbs:
McCarthy’s column comes on the heels of reports that former British spy Christopher Steele, who was tasked with compiling the ‘Trump dossier’ for opposition research firm Fusion GPS, admitting in court that it contains “limited intelligence.”
Steele also admitted part of “his final December memo,” was unvetted.
“The contents of the December memorandum did not represent (and did not purport to represent) verified facts, but were raw intelligence which had identified a range of allegations that warranted investigation given their potential national security implications,” Steele wrote.
“Such intelligence was not actively sought; it was merely received.”
