'He stated that if anything he was 'favorably disposed' toward the Trump family before he began his research because he had visited a Trump family member at Trump Tower and 'been friendly' with [the family member] for some years,' the report said of Christopher Steele.
The author of a controversial dossier that was partially the basis for the FBI to open a counterintelligence probe into members of the Trump campaign in the run-up to the 2016 election met with a Trump family member years prior and considered himself"favorably disposed" to the family, according to a new government watchdog report.
"He described their relationship as 'personal' and said that he once gifted a family tartan from Scotland to the family member," the report continued, failing to name the Trump family member.from the Department of Justice's Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, about the origins of the Russia probe. It was released Monday.
But the internal government watchdog undercut that narrative. Horowitz concluded that despite serious mishandlings by the FBI when seeking privilege from a secret national security court to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, no"political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions to open" investigations into several former Trump campaign officials.
The Dossier was funded partially by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee to unearth damaging information on then-candidate Trump, something supporters of the president have said renders Steele's claims inaccurate and politically motivated. Democrats argued it"debunks the conspiracy theories" touted by Trump and his congressional allies about the validity of the Mueller report and the FBI's counterintelligence probe.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'Dossier' author Chris Steele met Ivanka Trump years before Russia scandal, source saysNearly a decade before the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka met a British intelligence officer who ran the Russia desk -- and when the agent left his covert service and moved into private practice in 2010, she stayed in touch, ABC News has learned. The two exchanged emails
Read more »
Chris Wallace: DOJ IG Report ‘Didn’t Find the Things’ Trump and Barr Think It DidShortly after the Department of Justice’s inspector general reported there was no political bias, and that the FBI had sufficient evidence to launch the Russia probe on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said the real headline should be that the top watchdog “didn’t find the
Read more »
IG Horowitz's report likely to damage Comey, frustrate Trump, pressure Barr's handpicked successorRepublicans are hopeful, and Democrats fearful, of what the inspector general will say about the decision to surveil a U.S. citizen linked to Trump's presidential campaign
Read more »
Barr condemns IG report's finding that FBI probe of Trump campaign was justifiedBREAKING: Prosecutor tasked by AG Barr to lead separate review of the Russia investigation has released an extraordinary statement where he disputes an inspector general's findings, despite the prosecutor still leading the ongoing review.
Read more »
Trump: IG report of justified campaign probe documents 'attempted overthrow' of governmentUS Justice Dept's IG report released Monday rebuts Pres. Trump's regular depiction of a politically biased plot against him. Responding to the report Monday, President Trump shared his view that the report was 'far worse than I ever thought possible.'
Read more »