Used by former FBI Director James Comey as “probable cause” to ask the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act Court [FISA] for warrants to wiretap Trump campaign officials, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Isiikoff found there’s no corroboration to the Steele dossier. No matter how hard Democrats and the anti-Trump media have tried, they can’t corroborate major claims in the FusionGPS “dossier,” paid by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with the sole purpose to discredit President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “All the allegations of ties to the Kremlin have not been proven,” said Isikoff. Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele alleged that his Russian contacts revealed that Trump’s campaign officials worked closely with the Kremlin to help defeat Hillary. One of those officials, former Trump foreign policy aid Carter Page, was targeted by Steele.
After wiretapping Page, the FBI could not provide any actionable intelligence on which to charge Page with violation the June 15, 1917 Espionage Act, preventing U.S. citizens from covert activity with foreign governments. Despite all the accusations in the dossier about Page, he was never charged with anything. “When you actually get into the details of the Steele dossier, the specific allegations, we have not seen the evidence to support them,” Isikoff said. “Russian Dossier reported now doubts dopey Christopher Steele’s claims!” Trump tweeted, embarrassing Democrats and the mainstream press staking their credibility on the dossier’s claims. Certainly Comey believed the dossier’s contents, before asking the FISA Court to issue warrants to wiretap Page’s phones. No Democrat or anyone in the mainstream press wants to admit that the Special Counsel investigation was fake.
Isikoff’s findings don’t bode well for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose Russian meddling and alleged Trump collusion investigation hasn’t turned up much other than “process” crimes like perjury. When it comes to former National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Mueller’s office never asked how the FBI found out Flynn talked with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted Sept. 18, 2017 in sworn testimony in the House Intelligence Committee that she “unmasked” wiretapped conversation of Kislyak, finding that Flynn had multiple conversations with the former Russian ambassador. Rice never admitted that she operated on orders from former President Barack Obama and former Atty. General Loretta Lynch. Former FBI Director James Comey used the FISA court to get warrants to wiretap Trump campaign officials.
Isikoff’s belated revelation that the contents of the Steele dossier were never verified should alert Mueller to serious red flags. Comey denied in his Dec. 8 closed-door testimony in the House Intelligence Committee that he knew anything about the Steele dossier. Yet the FISA court record, while heavily redacted, shows that the contents of the Steele dossier were presented to the FISA Court to obtain warrants. Steele talked about Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow where he hosted the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant. When you think that Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen plead guilty to perjury for talking to Moscow contacts about a Trump Tower project until June 2017, it lets you know Mueller’s desperation for convictions. Mueller insists that Cohen told Congress he no longer worked on the Trump Tower deal in 2017, as if it were illegal to discuss a real estate transaction.
Given that the Steele dossier played a heavy role in Comey’s decision to seek warrants from the FISA Court to wiretap Trump campaign officials, its lack of corroboration opens serious doubts about the entire investigation. “There’s good grounds to think some of the more sensational allegations will never be proven and are likely false,” Isikoff said. Isikoff is no fan of Trump and would like nothing more than to prove Russian collusion. “When you actually get into the details of the Steele dossier, the specific allegations, we have not seen the evidence to support them,” calling into question the entire basis for the Special Counsel. Instead of Mueller admitting there’s “no there, there,” when it comes to Trump’s Russian collusion, he’s gone after “process” crimes for perjury, or, even worse, prosecuting crimes that had nothing to do with the 2016 presidential campaign.
Mueller’s lack of focus on the credibility of the Steele dossier indicates that he’s justifying his investigation without any facts to back it up. As soon as he realized the Special Counsel’s investigation was based on Hillary’s phony opposition research, Mueller should have shut down the investigation. “In broad strokes, Christopher Steele was clearly on to something,” said Isikoff “That there was a major Kremlin effort to interfere in our elections, that they were trying to help Trump’s campaign, and that there were multiple contacts between various Russian figures close to the government and various people in Trump’s campaign,” Isikoff said. Whatever Russia did on social media to help Trump or hurt Hillary, had nothing to do with Trump campaign. Whatever conversations occurred between Kislyak and Trump campaign officials, they were all about mending U.S.-Russian relations.
