Did the DOJ Misuse the Steele Dossier — to Spy on the Trump Campaign?

Some Trump supporters are making that claim. The president can disclose warrant applications proving whether it’s true.

Will President Trump order the disclosure of any warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (the FISA Court) in which the Justice Department and FBI presented any information derived from the Steele dossier?

We don’t need to imperil national security. There is no need to disclose the entirety of any application. There is no need to expose intelligence sources or methods of gathering information — they can be redacted. We don’t even need to see any actual application; a declassified summary of the relevant information will do. We just need to know if what administration supporters are saying is true: In seeking surveillance authority on the rationale that Trump associates were acting as agents of a foreign power, did the Justice Department and the FBI present the FISA court with the Steele dossier as if it were a product of U.S. intelligence reporting — rather than what it really was, a political opposition-research product commissioned by the Clinton campaign?

That is an explosive charge. So, at the very least, will the president order the Justice Department to provide any such FISA applications to the House Intelligence Committee — preferably along with an explanation of why the president’s own appointees at the Justice Department and the FBI have been defying the committee’s requests for information?

Even before controversy arose over the Steele dossier, many of us were prepared to believe that there was more evidence that the Obama Justice Department and intelligence agencies had been put in the service of the Clinton campaign than that the Trump campaign had colluded in a Russian espionage operation against the 2016 election. Now, the Trump administration’s most effective advocates on Capitol Hill and in the media have made a plausible circumstantial case that the Obama administration colluded with the Clinton campaign to conduct court-authorized spying on the Trump campaign.

Grilling FBI director Christopher Wray at an Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday, my friend Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman from Ohio, deduced that the Clinton campaign, through its law firm, had retained the research firm Fusion GPS and former British spy Christopher Steele to compile a “dossier” filled with “fake news, National Enquirer garbage”; that dossier was then “all dressed up by the FBI, taken to the FISA Court, and presented as a legitimate intelligence document.”

It is speculated that this was done, fraudulently, in order to persuade the FISA Court that Trump associates, and perhaps Donald Trump himself, were in cahoots with the Kremlin’s operations against the United States. There is a problem with the theory, though — a metaphorical “elephant in the room.”

What the president’s champions fail to mention is that he is in charge of classified information — including classified applications submitted to the secret FISA Court. Was candidate Trump the victim of political spying? Of a weaponization by the Obama administration of the government’s intelligence-collection power, with ramifications that, thanks to the Mueller investigation, beset the Trump administration to this day? If President Trump is indeed a victim, then it just so happens that he is uniquely positioned to expose this shocking abuse of power. All he has to do is order disclosure.

Mind you, we are talking here about Donald Trump: the “when attacked, never apologize, always hit back twice as hard” brawler. He has never seemed like a guy who would suffer in silence if he had the power to reveal such treachery perpetrated against him. If what happened is as bad as it is being portrayed, why are the Justice Department and FBI, under Trump-appointed leadership, stonewalling Republican-led congressional committees? After Thursday’s hearing, why didn’t the president tell Director Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that, by close of business Friday, either the FISA application should be in the House Intelligence Committee’s hands or their resignations should be on his desk?

Could there be fire where Congressman Jordan has detected smoke? No one who watched the Obama administration politicize intelligence and law enforcement could reject the possibility out of hand. But here’s the thing: A few months back, we had similarly explosive allegations — the “unmasking” controversy. President Trump could easily have disclosed the information we needed to assess whether there had been a shocking abuse of power or just good-faith intelligence collection and analysis. But no disclosure was ordered; and while the president accused Obama’s national-security adviser of breaking the law, Trump’s own national-security adviser concluded that there had been no misconduct.

The matter is worth revisiting. The identities of Americans incidentally intercepted during lawful foreign-intelligence collections are generally concealed in intelligence reports. But we learned that Obama national-security officials directed “unmasking” on hundreds of occasions — i.e., directed that the identities of Americans, including some connected to the Trump campaign, be revealed (only in reports disseminated to intelligence agencies, not to the public).

Combined with several other irregularities, this had the makings of a real scandal. First, just as his administration was about to end, President Obama suddenly ordered wider dissemination of raw intelligence throughout the spy agencies. Second, there was a torrent of classified leaks, which made it clear that there had been spying on Trump associates. Third, a former Defense Department official, Evelyn Farkas, acknowledged — bragged would be a better word — that her friends in the Obama administration were quietly encouraging Congress to demand intelligence regarding Trump and Russia. “That’s why you have the leaking,” she chirped.

Combine this with the facts that (a) Susan Rice, Obama’s national-security adviser, initially denied knowing anything about the unmasking before it was confirmed that she was involved (as our David French has detailed); and (b) hundreds of unmasking requests were made in the name of Samantha Power, Obama’s U.N. ambassador, a position in which the need to know so many unmasked American identities is not apparent. Alarmingly, Power now denies that she personally made most of those requests. All together, it adds up to reasonable suspicion that there was a conspiracy to leak classified information in a manner that would damage Trump politically.

As I observed at the time, though, the unmasking was lawful under the very forgiving guidelines that apply. Whether it nonetheless amounted to an abuse of power depended on whether there was a legitimate intelligence purpose involved — such as an inquiry, based on good-faith suspicion, into whether Trump associates were having nefarious contacts with operatives of the Putin regime. Had that been the case, not only would it have been appropriate for the Justice Department to investigate, but it would have been irresponsible not to do so — although the leaking would still have been outrageous and worthy of prosecution.

There was, I further noted, one official who was in a position to clarify things instantly: President Trump. As the chief executive and the ultimate authority on classified information, the president had the power to disclose — at least to congressional investigators, if not to the public at large — which Obama officials did the unmasking, which Trump associates were unmasked, and why. Yet, although the president publicly accused Ms. Rice of committing a crime by unmasking American identities (as I said, it was not a crime), he took no action to expose the supposedly scandalous unmasking. In the meantime, as Eli Lake reported (based on accounts from two unidentified intelligence officials), Trump’s national-security adviser, H.R. McMaster, determined that his predecessor, Rice, had done nothing wrong.

I’m still not sold. The known facts are troubling: The leaking is egregious, the fact that unmaskings were falsely attributed to Ms. Power in government recordkeeping raises disturbing questions, and McMaster’s reported vouch for Ms. Rice is an intelligence leak, not a finding based on a thorough, official investigation. Nevertheless, President Trump would have been a principal victim had there been an abuse of power, and he has the authority to end all speculation by disclosing the relevant information. Since he apparently refuses to do so, one must assume that the intelligence agencies and Obama national-security officials had good reasons for taking the actions they took.

That brings us back, at last, to the Steele dossier. In the Trumpist portrayal, the dossier is a tissue of lies. This claim is not without foundation. Not only is the dossier a politically motivated hit job orchestrated by Trump’s opponent, but Byron York notes that former FBI director James Comey, no Trump fan, has dismissively described it as “salacious and unverified.” In addition, some dossier allegations have been vigorously rebutted, and defamation lawsuits have been filed against Steele, Fusion GPS (the research firm that hired Steele), and the media outlets that publicized the dossier.

Still, as I have previously pointed out, the reports compiled by Steele to generate the dossier run nearly three dozen single-spaced pages and contain scores of factual claims. Trump defenders have not mounted a point-by-point refutation, just a generalized dismissal, on the rationale that some likely misinformation and many unconfirmed claims render the dossier so tainted that it should be deemed totally bogus. That is not an unreasonable position, but neither is it a showstopper. In fact, some close observers contend, with thorough analysis, that some factual assertions in the dossier have been extensively corroborated (see, e.g., Natasha Bertrand, here, and former CIA officer John Sipher, here). Moreover, Steele, who is said to have enjoyed a good reputation among U.S. intelligence agents, maintains that 70 to 90 percent of his reporting is accurate. He believes his sources are reliable and notes that, though not verified, neither has most of the information been negated.

It is not impossible that the process by which dossier claims were submitted to the FISA Court was corrupt. Having worked for the Justice Department and with the FBI for many years, though, I have my doubts. The Justice Department and FBI care deeply about their credibility with the FISA Court, and the FISA Court bristles at caricatures of it as a rubber-stamp. The government has a strong motive not to deceive the judges, and the judges to scrutinize FISA applications carefully. Consequently, I have always believed there is a second, more plausible possibility: The FBI used the dossier as a source of leads, not as a finished intelligence product that needed no further investigation. The bureau, I suspect, was able to corroborate some of the claims in the dossier, and its investigation of those claims was presented to the FISA Court.

If the FBI did this, there might have been no need for the Justice Department to refer to the dossier in a FISA application, which would have obviated the need to evaluate the dossier’s credibility. The government is not required to tell a judge how it was tipped off to information unless it is relying on the tip as part of the reason the judge should believe the information.

An example: Let’s say I’m an FBI agent, and a confidential source tells me he believes the woman in the next apartment is laundering money for drug dealers. Based on that tip, I watch the apartment and see known drug dealers go in and out. When they leave, I see the woman go to her bank with paper bags that might contain cash. Then I subpoena her bank records and find that she’s making big bank deposits. Now, if I want to ask a judge for a warrant to wiretap the woman’s phone, I am not required to tell the judge that a confidential source tipped me off to the woman’s suspicious behavior. I simply have to tell the court about enough of my investigation to establish probable cause of a money laundering crime: the meetings with drug dealers, the bags of cash, and the bank records. I gathered that information myself; it doesn’t hinge on the credibility of my informant.

This is what may have happened with the dossier. If so, then it could accurately be said that the dossier, just like the confidential source in my hypothetical, was used to help the government get a FISA warrant. But it would not be true that the FBI and Justice Department fraudulently presented the dossier to the FISA Court as if it were a refined U.S. intelligence analysis; instead, they would have presented information the FBI had developed independently after being tipped off by the dossier.

There would be nothing untoward about such a process. It wouldn’t matter that the dossier was political “oppo” research. The FBI gets leads from all sorts of shady sources; what matters is whether the information the Justice Department ultimately gives the court has been investigated adequately by the FBI.

Needless to say, if this is how it happened, the Trump administration would not want the information in the FISA application disclosed. To be sure, the information would not necessarily indicate there was any Trump-campaign collusion in Russian espionage. But it might show that (a) there were unsavory contacts between Trump associates and foreign government operatives; (b) there was enough FBI-verified information in the warrant application (which probably was not limited to the dossier’s allegations) for the FISA court to find probable cause to believe one or more Trump-connected people were acting as agents of a foreign power; and (c) parts of the dossier have been corroborated, which would destroy the Trump political claim that the dossier is a tissue of lies.

President Trump is uniquely positioned to reveal how the dossier was handled and what the FISA Court was told. As Congressman Jordan urges, Trump’s own FBI and Justice Department employees could easily let the Intelligence Committee examine any FISA applications derived from the dossier. Why doesn’t the president just order them to comply with Congress’s demand?

In the unmasking controversy, it seems Trump was more interested in politically exploiting the specter of abusive unmasking than in ordering the disclosure of what actually happened. Is the same thing true of the dossier? I don’t know why the FBI and Justice Department are stonewalling the Intelligence Committee. Suffice it to say, however, that the president could order disclosure if he wanted to. He hasn’t. If he persists in that posture, we have to assume he would prefer that we not know what the FBI told the FISA Court.

Did the OBAMA DOJ Misuse the Steele Dossier — to Spy on the Trump Campaign?

Oh please.......

Obama was running scared....he has so much to hide....

Sure-Thing Hillary was supposed to sweep it all under the Oval Office rug.

It's pretty obvious that Trump is going out of his way to go through proper legal channels and avoiding even the appearance of impropriety in his take down of the entrenched scumbags in Washington.

His approach is seemingly very ambitious. He is not out hunting for one or two scalps to make a few headlines and garner publicity.

He is going after the entire corps of corrupt and politicized upper and mid level operatives burrowed in from the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations

Trump is going to clean house.

There is no doubt that Trump could end a lot of the mystery surrounding the dossier. Why he’s letting the drama continue to play out is baffling. Trump’s reticence is causing the seeds of doubt to grow. The truth will ultimately come out and when it does I hope Trump’s inaction will be explained.

I just put on my tin foil hat made with industrial aluminum foil so get ready......

Donald trump wants to come out and clean house but the deep state is holding something over his head. Whether it has something to do with his taxes/bankruptcies or his past dealings with women. Something is keeping president Trump from doing the work he was elected to do. Why else would Donald leave that piece of s*** Jeff Sessions in there who is doing absolutely nothing?!?! There is so much obvious govt corruption just hanging there, waiting to be picked and nothing is happening! No one is being prosecuted.

Nevertheless, President Trump would have been a principal victim had there been an abuse of power, and he has the authority to end all speculation by disclosing the relevant information. Since he apparently refuses to do so, one must assume that the intelligence agencies and Obama national-security officials had good reasons for taking the actions they took.

Andy, Andy, Andy ... You really don't get Donald Trump at all, do you?

Take a look back at this classic memory from the 2016 campaign:

"John Miller" Audio Tape Hits the News

Pay particular attention to the segment that starts around the 4:25 mark. This episode was a silly trolling exercise by Donald Trump in the middle of the 2016 primary campaign, and it involved a taped conversation where he allegedly called a reporter and pretended to be his own publicist, the mysterious "John Muller."

Donald Trump sat on this tape for 25 years before he apparently sent it to the Washington Post himself.

TWENTY ... FIVE ... YEARS.

If I were one of the senior leaders in the Obama administration I would be spending the next decade looking over my shoulder constantly. LMAO.

Chief justice Roberts? If you’re alluding to impeachment ritual then no, Roberts has nothing to do other than preside and maintain regular order. He doesn’t get to review or have any job in qualifying evidence.

“The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.”

Puzzling bits of logic by McCarthy:

“Moreover, Steele, who is said to have enjoyed a good reputation among U.S. intelligence agents, maintains that 70 to 90 percent of his reporting is accurate. He believes his sources are reliable and notes that, though not verified, neither has most of the information been negated.”

If the dossier has not been verified, how can the reporting be considered accurate. If reports that I am a billionaire have never been negated, does that mean I am a billionaire?

“But it would not be true that the FBI and Justice Department fraudulently presented the dossier to the FISA Court as if it were a refined U.S. intelligence analysis; instead, they would have presented information the FBI had developed independently after being tipped off by the dossier.”

If it had been presented in that fashion, then it would still be a complete fraud. There has been no FBI independently developed information — it would have been front and center months and months ago.

Anti-Trumper McCarthy now singing a different tune. Where were these observations a few weeks ago?

Timing is everything. And who knows what DOJ is investigating and whether releasing the information at this time will jeopardize that investigation. IMO Jim Jordan already knows the answers to the questions he posed at the Wray hearings.

Patience boys. Hold your fire until you see the whites of their eyes. Let Mueller shoot his wad first. And then the sh*t will hit the fan.

Remember that Trump waited to fire Comey until AFTER Comey had appeared before the Senate in early May and testified under oath that Trump was never a target of an FBI investigation. Once Trump was in the clear in a major public venue like that, the hammer came down on Comey in a big way.

It's also worth noting that the Trump administration was reportedly leaking like a sieve for his first 6-9 months in office, and yet there wasn't even the slightest hint about Comey's firing until after it was done. Comey himself learned of his firing from CNN while he was at an FBI office in California.

That's what didn't happen...will she skunk on Obama eventually?

Or does he have something really big on her...which is what I think.

After all, look how graciously she accepted Obama winning the nomination over her...the party favorite...and biggest Dem fund raiser ever.

They only gave her the nomination this time....because she's got soooooo much on everyone.

t;ld version of the article is this:

“Trump can declassified information himself and order the AG to release or have his resignation in hand. Why hasn’t he done so. It must mean where there is smoke there is fire.” -Quoted & paraphrased,

“What the president’s champions fail to mention is that he is in charge of classified information — including classified applications submitted to the secret FISA Court. Was candidate Trump the victim of political spying? Of a weaponization by the Obama administration of the government’s intelligence-collection power, with ramifications that, thanks to the Mueller investigation, beset the Trump administration to this day? If President Trump is indeed a victim, then it just so happens that he is uniquely positioned to expose this shocking abuse of power. All he has to do is order disclosure.”

What the author fails to note is such direct actions by President Trump will be converted by the establishment media into “interference with the Special Counsel” “Obstruction of Justice” and a dozen other made up crimes.

President Trump has to carefully plan out and execute each step. I think he is doing so.

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