By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--March 7, 2017
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"Grassley sent a letter to Comey today pointing to the Washington Post story, published last week, which revealed the FBI's plans to pay former MI6 agent Christopher Steele to do further research for the bureau.” 'The idea that the FBI and associates of the Clinton campaign would pay Mr. Steele to investigate the Republican nominee for president in the run-up to the election raises further questions about the FBI's independence from politics, as well as the Obama administration's use of law enforcement and intelligence agencies for political ends,' Grassley, an Iowa Republican, charged. “Steele was first hired to compile opposition research on Trump by a Republican, though later a Democrat aligned with the party's nominee was paying a D.C. firm for Steele's work. “The FBI never acted on paying Steele, the Washington Post said, once the contents of the dossier became public knowledge, as well as Steele's name. “Grassley outlined a number of questions he wanted Comey to answer by March 20 and instructed the FBI chief to schedule a briefing with lawmakers, connecting them with officials who might have information on this arrangement. “Among the items he wanted answered: 'How did the FBI first obtain Mr. Steele’s Trump investigation memos?'
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Along with: 'Has the FBI verified or corroborated any of the allegations made in the memos?’ “Comey briefed Trump on the existence of the dossier during a private meeting in January. “CNN reported on its existence, while Buzzfeed decided to release its contents, though told readers that much of the dossier's contents were unproven. “The most salacious claims involved Trump hiring prostitutes to urinate on a bed the Obamas slept on at a Moscow Ritz-Carlton. “The dossier also alleged that there was was a continuous exchange of information between team Trump and the 'intermediaries for the Russian government' throughout the presidential campaign. “Today Grassley told Comey that he was aware that it was FBI policy not to comment on ongoing investigations, but that he hoped eventually the findings would at least make it as far as Capitol Hill.Christopher Steele and the FBI go back a long way: “There are reports from Reuters news service that an early client of Mr. Steele and Orbis was Britain’s Football Association, the country’s governing body for soccer, which hired the firm around 2009 when it was considering bidding for the FIFA World Cup. The event was awarded to Moscow for 2018 and Qatar for 2022, but Mr. Steele’s work found its way to the FBI, which had opened a probe into corruption at FIFA. That led to criminal charges against several FIFA officials in 2015 and it forced the ouster of long-time FIFA boss Sepp Blatter. (Globe and Mail, Jan. 12, 2017)
“According to several reports, Mr. Steele’s FBI contacts during the FIFA investigation led to Orbis winning work with Fusion GPS, a Washington-based research firm founded by former journalists. Fusion had been hired to dig up dirt on Mr. Trump for Republican candidates during the party’s primary. After Mr. Trump won the nomination, Democrats became clients for the same type of work.”Is the return of spy Christopher Steele the beginning of ‘Get Donald Trump, Redux II? Meanwhile, too politically biased to succeed at the job of national security, the FBI has much in common with Christopher Steele in trying to pass off as truth bogus information.
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