Opinion: Top DOJ official discussed getting Steele back into FBI, Mueller probe
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https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401007-opinion-top-doj-official-discussed-getting-steele-back-into-fbi-mueller-probe?amp
Opinion: Top DOJ official discussed getting Steele back into FBI, Mueller probe
2 of 2
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401007-opinion-top-doj-official-discussed-getting-steele-back-into-fbi-mueller-probe?amp
Opinion: Top DOJ official discussed getting Steele back into FBI, Mueller probe
"A month later in that Aug. 6, 2017, text was the one time, apparently, Steele mentioned Mueller by name to Ohr. And the intelligence operative tried to instill a sense of urgency, suggesting he had new intel that could assist the Russia case. "There are some new, perishable, operational opportunities which we do not want to miss out on," he wrote.
The text messages and other communications between Ohr and Steele don't indicate what ultimately happened. But, in multiple conversations, they talked about reengagement and used the shorthand "SC."
For example, when Congress got the first documents that revealed some of the substance of Steele's work for the FBI, the former Clinton-funded muckraker wrote back to Ohr. "Very concerned about this," he texted on Oct. 26, 2017. "Peoples (sic) lives may be endangered. I shall also reach out to my other (SC) contacts on this issue tomorrow."
Investigators believe the "SC" stands for "special counsel" but aren't sure if the follow-up messages refer to Mueller or to then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who dealt with the Russia case and also held the title of special counsel in the bureau.
Whatever the case, the text messages portray Steele as increasingly aggravated that his return to informant's work on the Russia case was going so slowly.
"I am presuming you've heard nothing back from your SC colleagues on the issues you kindly put to them from me," Steele texted Ohr on Nov. 18, 2017. "We have heard nothing from them either.
"To say this is disappointing would be an understatement! Certain people have been willing to risk everything to engage with them in an effort to help them reach the truth."
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401007-opinion-top-doj-official-discussed-getting-steele-back-into-fbi-mueller-probe?amp
The handwritten notes exposing what Fusion GPS told DOJ about Trump
"A memory stick quietly exchanged in a coffee shop.
An admission of a “Hail Mary” leak.
An unmistakable effort to push the Russia investigation closer to Donald Trump’s inner circle with uncorroborated tales.
Those are just some of the highlights from the day that Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson — paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to find dirt on her GOP rival — met secretly with a top Justice Department official, right after Trump won the 2016 election.
And all of it was captured in the official’s handwritten notes — a contemporaneous record that intelligence professionals tell me exposes the flaws plaguing the early Russia collusion case.
For example, Simpson told then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr during the Dec. 10, 2016, meeting in a Washington coffee shop that he believed Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, was the “go-between from Russia to the Trump campaign.”
Yet, Simpson allegedly acknowledged that most of the information Fusion GPS and British intelligence operative Christopher Steele developed did not come from sources inside Moscow. “Much of the collection about the Trump campaign ties to Russia comes from a former Russian intelligence officer (? not entirely clear) who lives in the U.S.,” Ohr scribbled in his notes.
In those notes, Ohr repeatedly misspells Simpson’s first name as “Glen.”
Cohen has emphatically and repeatedly denied any role in connecting Russia to the Trump campaign. His lawyer, Lanny Davis, declined comment Thursday.
Simpson admitted in sworn testimony last year to the House Intelligence Committee that he had contact with Ohr after Trump’s election victory. But Ohr’s notes provide the first detailed public account of what the two men actually discussed."
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401185-the-handwritten-notes-exposing-what-fusion-gps-told-doj-about-trump
"One notation that stands out is Simpson’s account that he asked Steele to talk with Mother Jones reporter David Corn about their muckraking on Trump and Russia in the final days of the election. At the time, Steele still worked as an FBI source.
Corn’s Oct. 31, 2016, story was one of the most definitive to allege possible ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow, creating an important talking point for Democrats in the final days of the campaign.
“Glen asked Chris to speak to the Mother Jones reporter. It was Glen’s Hail Mary attempt,” Ohr wrote."
https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/401185-the-handwritten-notes-exposing-what-fusion-gps-told-doj-about-trump