Senior intelligence officials reportedly pushed back on efforts by former President Barack Obama’s intelligence chiefs to cite the Steele dossier in a report on alleged Russian election interference.
The officials objected to the demand of chiefs, such as then-Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey, to include the dossier in a formal review ordered by Obama on potential Russian involvement in the 2016 election, according to records exclusively reviewed by The Federalist. The report follows the release of evidence regarding what the intelligence community new about alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
“Based solely on what we DO know now, my bottom line is this – unless FBI is prepared to provide much better sourcing – I believe this should NOT be included in the paper,” an official wrote regarding the Steele dossier. They argued that the dossier was poorly sourced, “extremely sketchy” and did “not meet normal [intelligence community] standards.”
The intelligence officials were concerned that sources used to compose the Steele dossier were not known to the FBI, the records showed. However, FBI officials insisted that the information was reliable and had been somewhat backed up, according to The Federalist. (RELATED: DOJ Announces ‘Strike Force’ To Investigate Tulsi Gabbard’s Russiagate Disclosures)
Although Steele had formerly been a source for the FBI, a review of his reporting showed it had been only “minimally corroborated,” according to a U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General report.
“If, as we have been told, FBI has some corroborating material from an ongoing investigation, can that be used? I thought they never do that? If they feel this overrides the investigation, some of the corroborating reporting must be included in the paper. If not, I would argue for dropping the page,” an official said, according to The Federalist.
Former Assistant Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division Bill Priestap and former FBI official Peter Strzok both lobbied to include the dossier within the body of the assessment rather than as an appendix, according to the documents.
“My overarching concern is that inclusion of this sensationalist data would lead to many problems,” a senior intelligence official said, unaware that the inclusion of the dossier would only be followed by years of investigation into the then-president-elect.
The Steele dossier was ultimately included as an appendix to the Intelligence Community Assessment. The information was eventually leaked to CNN days before Trump was set to be sworn in as president.
The files do not address the intent behind the intelligence chiefs wanting to including the dossier in an assessment, according to the Federalist.
