The former British spy who used Kremlin sources to assemble a Clinton-funded anti-Trump dossier, which the Obama administration used to spy on the Trump campaign, had extensive contacts with the Department of Justice’s #4 official right before the FBI opened its Trump-Russia probe in the summer of 2016, according to new emails recently turned over to Congressional investigators.
That official, Bruce Ohr, was demoted twice after the DOJ’s Inspector General discovered that he lied about his involvement with opposition research firm Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who employed Steele. Ohr’s CIA-linked wife, Nellie, was also employed by Fusion as part of the firm’s anti-Trump efforts, and had ongoing communications with the ex-UK spy, Christopher Steele as well.
In short, Steele was much closer to the Obama administration than previously disclosed, and his DOJ contact Bruce Ohr reported directly to Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates – who approved at least one of the FISA warrants to surveil Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
Steele and the Ohrs would have breakfast together on July 30 at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington D.C., while Steele turned in installments of his infamous “dossier” on July 19 and 26. The breakfast also occurred one day before the FBI formally launched operation “Crossfire Hurricane,” the agency’s counterintelligence operation into the Trump campaign.
“Great to see you and Nellie this morning Bruce,” Steele wrote shortly following their breakfast meeting. “Let’s keep in touch on the substantive issues/s (sic). Glenn is happy to speak to you on this if it would help.”
Calendar notations and handwritten notes indicate Ohr followed up on Steele’s offer and met with Simpson on Aug. 22, 2016. Ohr’s notes indicate Simpson identified several “possible intermediaries” between the Trump campaign and Russia.
One was identified as a “longtime associate of Trump” who “put together several real estate deals for Russian investigators to purchase Trump properties.” Another was a Russian apparently tied to Carter Page, Ohr’s note of his Simpson contact indicated.
Steele offered Ohr many other theories over their contacts, including a now widely discredited one that the Russian Alfa Bank had a computer server “as a link” to the Trump campaign, Ohr’s notes show.
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In all, Ohr’s notes, emails and texts identify more than 60 contacts with Steele and/or Simpson, some dating to 2002 in London. But the vast majority occurred during the 2016-2017 timeframe that gave birth to one of the most controversial counterintelligence probes in recent American history. –The Hill
Disturbingly, Steele appears to have been lobbying for a Putin-linked Russian oligarch and Paul Manafort associate, Oleg Deripaska, while the former UK spy was also involved in the anti-Trump effort – asking Bruce Ohr to “monitor” Deripaska’s efforts to obtain a Visa to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in the US.
[Perhaps this explains why the Obama administration granted Russian Trump-hating lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya – a Fusion GPS associate – a special visa under “extraordinary circumstances” to enter the US and participate in the Trump Tower meeting and a DOJ lawsuit against her Russian client, Denis Katsyv.]
Steele asked Ohr, the #4 official at DOJ, to “monitor” any developments in Deripaska’s visa case. Ohr said he would. Was Steele working for Deripaska? His attorney, Adam Waldman, registered under FARA for his work in lobbying for Deripaska’s visa. https://t.co/EgwicnsyHT pic.twitter.com/AkIAxoRltg
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) August 9, 2018
Emails in 2016 between former British spy Christopher Steele and Justice Department official Bruce Ohr suggest Steele was deeply concerned about the legal status of a Putin-linked Russian oligarch, and at times seemed to be advocating on the oligarch’s behalf, in the same time period Steele worked on collecting the Russia-related allegations against Donald Trump that came to be known as the Trump dossier. The emails show Steele and Ohr were in frequent contact, that they intermingled talk about Steele’s research and the oligarch’s affairs, and that Glenn Simpson, head of the dirt-digging group Fusion GPS that hired Steele to compile the dossier, was also part of the ongoing conversation. –Washington Examiner
Dossier author Christopher Steele was likely working for Putin-linked Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska at the exact same time he was telling Hillary and the press that Trump’s alleged ties to Russia were treason. https://t.co/jEXY2NM5hg
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 9, 2018
With recent comments by President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani suggesting there’s evidence the American public hasn’t seen, one has to wonder what we need to “stay tuned” for…
This is an illegally brought Rigged Witch Hunt run by people who are totally corrupt and/or conflicted. It was started and paid for by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats. Phony Dossier, FISA disgrace and so many lying and dishonest people already fired. 17 Angry Dems? Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 9, 2018
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