A defamation trial against Christopher Steele began in London on Monday, with revelations of the ex-spy’s efforts to disseminate his infamous dossier through the late Sen. John McCain and a longtime ally of the Clintons.
A lawyer for a Russian businessman suing Steele read his text messages with Strobe Talbott, the former president of Brookings Institution, and with David Kramer, a former State Department official who worked with McCain.
In another text, Steele told Sir Andrew Wood, a former British diplomat, that McCain was ‘compromised’ because he was provided a copy of the dossier.
In one message after Donald Trump’s election win in November 2016, Steele asked Strobe Talbott, who then served as president of the prestigious Brookings Institution, how he wanted to handle “the package” — a reference to the dossier.
In another message from early 2017, Steele urged David Kramer, an associate of Sen. John McCain’s, not to tell reporters that Steele had been a source for another journalist on a dossier-related story.
And in a message weeks earlier, Steele told Sir Andrew Wood, the former British ambassador to Russia, that McCain was “compromised” by being given a copy of the dossier.
Lawyers for a Russian tech executive, Aleksej Gubarev, read the text exchanges and others during the first day of Steele’s trial to establish that the ex-MI6 officer was deeply involved in the dissemination of information from the dossier.
Gubarev is suing Steele for defamation over the dossier, which BuzzFeed published on Jan. 10, 2017.
Andrew Caldecott, the lead lawyer for Gubarev, said that Talbott, who served as deputy secretary of state in the Clinton administration, called Steele in August 2016 inquiring about his investigation of the Trump campaign.
“Mr. Talbott telephones Mr Steele out of the blue in August 2016, having heard about his work and offers advice if needed,” Caldecott said, according to a copy of his remarks obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Steele and Wood took Talbott up on his offer in early November 2016, just after the FBI cut ties with Steele because he served as a source for Mother Jones reporter David Corn.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/21/christopher-steele-defamation-dossier-trial/