We now know that Christopher Steele's sub-source for his discredited dossier was a suspected Russian spy who the FBI believed was a "threat to national security" and the target of an FBI counter-intelligence probe from 2009 to 2011, according to declassified information provided by Attorney General William Barr to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
We also know the FBI learned the sub-source was the target of its counter-intelligence investigation in December 2016 and knowingly hid that information from the FISA courts while continuing its surveillance on Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who the FBI accused of being a Russian agent. The irony here folks is off the charts.
#Durham BREAKING: The primary sub-source for the Steele dossier was deemed a possible “national security threat” + the subject of 2009 FBI counter-intel probe. According to new records, those facts were known to Crossfire Hurricane team in December 2016. @LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/I6Gp4fv98C
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) September 24, 2020
In May 2009, the FBI launched an investigation into Steele's sub-source after it was revealed the sub-source had approached two individuals connected to an Obama foreign policy advisor and offered money in exchange for classified information. The FBI then learned the source had made contact with the Russian Embassy and known Russian intelligence officers back in 2006. According to one individual interviewed, the sub-source "persistently asked about the interviewee’s knowledge of a particular military vessel." The FBI noted its investigation would reopen if the sub-source ever returned to the United States.
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Sen. Graham called it "the most stunning and damning revelation the committee has uncovered."
According to the attorney general, the information about the sub-source had been "up till now" classified and the Department of Justice was providing a summary of certain findings only after confirming with U.S Attorney John Durham that such information would not interfere with his ongoing investigation into the origins of the Russia probe and FISA abuses.
"The now famous email Susan Rice sent to herself on Inauguration Day where she states that President Obama said that everything has to be done ‘by the book’ has become highly suspect," Sen. Graham said. "If this investigation is ‘by the book,’ then the book we’re using is the Kremlin playbook."
Attorney General Bill Barr, who appointed Durham to lead the investigation, has called Durham's findings "troubling" and said previously that "significant" developments in the Durham probe would likely be revealed before the November election.
The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel had a great thread about the new revelations.
8) And people wonder why #Durham is looking into all this?
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
Also, extra-credit question: Wasn't it Mueller's job to find sources of Russian disinformation? How do you miss the guy potentially feeding it directly to the FBI?
9) Finally, big credit here to AG Bill Barr and @LindseyGrahamSC for their commitment to truth and transparency. Americans deserve to know what happened before they vote.
— Kimberley Strassel (@KimStrassel) September 24, 2020
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