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Home Front: Politix

Declassified Horowitz Footnotes Show Obama Officials Knew Steele Dossier Was Russian Disinformation Designed To Target Trump

2020-04-16

[Sara Carter] Newly declassified footnotes from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December FBI report reveals that senior Obama officials, including members of the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane team knew the dossier compiled by a former British spy during the 2016 election was Russian disinformation to target President Donald Trump.

Further, the partially declassified footnotes reveal that those senior intelligence officials were aware of the disinformation when they included the dossier in the Obama administration’s Intelligence Communities Assessment (ICA).

As important, the footnotes reveal that there had been a request to validate information collected by British spy Christopher Steele as far back as 2015, and that there was concern among members of the FBI and intelligence community about his reliability. Those concerns were brushed aside by members of the Crossfire Hurricane team in their pursuit against the Trump campaign officials, according to sources who spoke to this reporter and the footnotes.

The explosive footnotes were partially declassified and made public Wednesday, after a lengthy review by the Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell’s office. Grenell sent the letter Wednesday releasing the documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa and Sen. Ron Johnson, R- Wisconsin, both who requested the declassification.

"Having reviewed the matter, and having consulted the heads of the relevant Intelligence Community elements, I have declassified the enclosed footnotes." Grenell consulted with DOJ Attorney General William Barr on the declassification of the documents.

Grassley and Johnson released a statement late Wednesday stating "as we can see from these now-declassified footnotes in the IG’s report, Russian intelligence was aware of the dossier before the FBI even began its investigation and the FBI had reports in hand that their central piece of evidence was most likely tainted with Russian disinformation."

"Thanks to Attorney General Barr’s and Acting Director Grenell’s declassification of the footnotes, we know the FBI’s justification to target an American Citizen was riddled with significant flaws," the Senator stated. "Inspector General Michael Horowitz and his team did what neither the FBI nor Special Counsel Mueller cared to do: examine and investigate corruption at the FBI, the sources of the Steele dossier, how it was disseminated, and reporting that it contained Russian disinformation."

Posted by:Besoeker

#4 but Hillary was supposed to win. Then all of this would never have come out.

So they would have done a much better job if they’d expected someone would check their work later?

Posted by: trailing wife 2020-04-16 20:48

#3 Yes, but Hillary was supposed to win. Then all of this would never have come out.

Posted by: Tom 2020-04-16 12:44

#2 Every single Russia hand who was not infected by The Swamp, regardless of his or her feelings about OrangeMan - from far-left I3sbian activist and Putin biographer Masha Gessen to sh!t-stirring punk journos Matt Taibbi to "Sovieticus" the Princeton Soviet Russia expert, Stephen F. Cohen, to the former editor of the centrist, independent Moscow Times to expatriate bankers -- EVERYONE who knows Russia knew IMMEDIATELY that this document was complete bullshit.

Everyone except the men and women whose full-time job it is to make policy toward Russia or to report on our policies toward Russia.

What a complete, utter, total Shitshow.

Posted by: Lex 2020-04-16 09:01

#1 Even more appalling than these f---ers' treachery is their stupidity. Anyone with a combination of common sense and the most rudimentary knowledge of Russia and the history of Russia's intelligence services over the last 140 years could see that this "garbage document" -- in the words of non-Russia expert Bob Woodward -- was full of the most idiotic nonsense and wild dezinformatsiya. Compared to this lunacy, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion reads like a clinical report.

We are ruled by morons who are advised by Mad Hatters.

Posted by: Lex 2020-04-16 08:54

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