XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, law.court.federal, alt.politics.liberalism   
   XPost: alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.usa.republican, talk.politics.guns   
   From: nobody@yamn.paranoici.org   
      
   The 71 pages of correspondence with former British spy Christopher   
   Steele are heavily redacted.   
      
   The FBI has released 71 pages of what it describes as correspondence   
   between the bureau and Christopher Steele, the former British spy   
   who authored a dossier alleging collusion between the 2016 Trump   
   campaign and Russia.   
      
   The heavily redacted records show FBI payments to Steele as a   
   Confidential Human Source (CHS) over an unknown period. They also   
   show that Steele told the FBI he had informed a third party he was   
   acting as a CHS for the bureau, and that the FBI determined Steele   
   had been a source for an online article.   
      
   On Nov. 1, 2016, according to the documents, the FBI told Steele it   
   was unlikely to continue working with him, and he should not "obtain   
   any intelligence whatsoever on behalf of the FBI."   
      
   The records also indicate that in February 2016 the FBI “admonished”   
   Steele. A federal law enforcement official explains that an   
   admonishment is typically given when a person begins a stint as a   
   confidential informant and annually thereafter. It is a briefing on   
   the rules of being an informant to ensure the source complies with   
   guidelines set by the Attorney General, and usually not criticism of   
   the source.   
      
   Because of the redactions, it is not possible to tell when payments   
   to Steele began, but it has previously been reported that he   
   assisted the FBI with past investigations, including a probe of   
   corruption in international soccer.   
      
   As first reported by the Washington Post, the FBI reached a deal in   
   October 2016 to pay Steele to continue the research that had led to   
   what became known as the Trump dossier, an indication of how   
   seriously the bureau was taking the allegations, according to a   
   person familiar with the matter.   
      
   The deal fell apart when Steele pulled out, said the source, who has   
   direct knowledge of the situation.   
      
   Steele, a former MI6 operative who opened a private firm, compiled   
   the Trump dossier during the 2016 presidential campaign under   
   contract to the U.S. research firm Fusion GPS.   
      
   Fusion had been hired to get information on Trump during the   
   primaries by a Republican media firm, Washington Free Beacon. When   
   Trump became the Republican nominee, the Clinton campaign and the   
   Democratic Party began picking up the tab for the Fusion research.   
   Fusion owner Glenn Simpson hired Steele, a Russia expert, to gather   
   information from his sources in Russia.   
      
   Steele’s sources told him the Russian government was working with   
   Trump to try to help him beat Clinton, including providing hacked   
   emails. That unproven allegation is among those being investigated   
   by special counsel Robert Mueller.   
      
   Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, sued Fusion and the website   
   BuzzFeed after BuzzFeed published the dossier in January 2017. In   
   addition to lurid stories about Trump's personal behavior and   
   allegations of collusion, the dossier said Cohen met with Russian   
   officials in a country in the European Union — which was later   
   reported to have been the Czech Republic. Cohen has denied the   
   meeting ever took place and offered his passport as proof he has   
   never been to Prague.   
      
   Cohen has dropped the suits.   
      
   NBC News reported in October that members of Mueller's team had   
   traveled to interview Steele about his information gathering for the   
   American opposition research firm Fusion GPS.   
      
   An April report from McClatchy, meanwhile, said Mueller has found   
   evidence that Cohen did travel to Prague.   
      
   President Donald Trump and his allies have claimed that Mueller's   
   Russia investigation was improperly launched on the basis of the   
   dossier and of a secret warrant that authorized electronic   
   surveillance of former Trump aide Carter Page.   
      
   "So we now find out that it was indeed the unverified and Fake Dirty   
   Dossier, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC,   
   that was knowingly & falsely submitted to FISA and which was   
   responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited   
   Mueller Witch Hunt!" the president wrote in a tweet Monday morning.   
      
   It has already been established by the House Intelligence Committee   
   that the Russia investigation began after the FBI learned that   
   another campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, had been approached by a   
   Russian agent. The agent told Papadopoulos the Russians had   
   incriminating information about Hillary Clinton, including emails,   
   according to court documents. Papadopoulos then mentioned to an   
   Australian diplomat that the Russians had "dirt" on Clinton, the   
   Australians contacted the U.S. government, and the FBI began to take   
   a look.   
      
   The Steele dossier formed a portion of the evidence used to meet the   
   surveillance warrant's legal burden of establishing "probable cause"   
   that Page was an agent of Russia. But people who have read the   
   supporting documents for the FISA warrants, including Rep. Adam   
   Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)