The GOP conspiracy theorists are going to be unhappy with learning the latest news about the investigation into Chris Steele, the retired MI6 British agent who compiled his raw intelligence notes collected from various Russian contacts which has come to be known as the Steele Dossier, has resulted with him being cleared. He was one of sources who had alleged that Moscow was interfering in the 2016 US presidential election.
This investigation that GOP in the US Congress and the republican President Donald Trump have been demanding was conducted by the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ )watchdog, the Inspector General Michael Horowitz who found Mr. Steele’s information to be sufficiently credible.
Here’s the rest of the story…
On July 9, 2019, Mark Hosenball of Reuters penned the following report, “Trump ‘dossier’ author grilled by Justice Department watchdogs: sources”
Excerpts:
“Federal lawyers probing the origins of the investigation of ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign have interviewed the author of a “dossier” that alleged misconduct between Trump and Moscow, prompting the lawyers to extend their inquiry.”
“Three attorneys from the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Justice met in person in early June with dossier author Christopher Steele in Britain, said two sources with direct knowledge of the lawyers’ travels.”
“The interview with Steele, a former top spy on Russia for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, took place while Trump was in London for a formal state visit with Queen Elizabeth and a meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May.”
“Steele’s dossier, made public in 2017, alleged that Moscow attempted to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and that there was potential collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign, along with other unverified and salacious claims about the president.”
“The Justice Department’s inspector general has been examining the earliest stages of an FBI investigation of Trump, his former 2016 presidential campaign rival Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Russia and former Trump adviser Carter Page.”
“Inspector General Michael Horowitz, whose office is an internal Justice Department watchdog, launched his probe in March 2018 amid allegations by Republican lawmakers that the FBI erred in seeking a warrant to monitor Page.”
“Trump has described the Steele dossier as “bogus” and Republicans have long sought to discredit the FBI’s investigation, which was later taken over by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller. His final report on Russia and the Trump campaign was released in redacted form in mid-April.”
“In that same month, Attorney General William Barr, who now heads the Justice Department, told a congressional committee that the Horowitz probe would be completed by May or June.”
“One of the two sources said Horowitz’s investigators appear to have found Steele’s information sufficiently credible to have to extend the investigation. Its completion date is now unclear.”
“A key focus of the Horowitz probe is whether the FBI followed proper procedures when it applied for a warrant with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to secretly conduct surveillance on Page and his ties to Russia.”
“Declassified documents show that the FBI cited information in Steele’s dossier when it asked the secretive FISA court in late 2016 for a warrant to eavesdrop electronically on Page, a U.S. businessman with interests in Russia.”
Gronda Morin 
Gronda, glad to see this. In Senator John McCain’s book, “Restless Wave,” he would only review the Steele Dossier until after he heard that Steele was highly regarded. He felt it was his duty to pass along the dossier to the FBI. At some point, you would think that people would realize the only constant in all of these equations resides in the White House. Why is that? Supporters need to be asked why do you believe everyone else is lying and a man whose five biographers said has a problem with the truth is the one who is always telling the truth?
Keith
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Dear Keith,
We all knew there was nothing untoward with Mr. Steele sharing his raw intelligence notes with the FBI via Senator McCain. No wonder, President Trump despises him.
It’s amazing. President Trump got his Roy Cohn in the form of the Attorney General Bill Barr where his DOJ lawyers thought they had settled on the census question because of the Supreme Court had ruled against their plan to add a citizen question to the 2020 census forms, but now he’s working on a way to work around the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, as per CNN and Washington Times, AG Barr had recused himself from Epstein case but today, he’s not recused himself from the current SDNY prosecution.
Mr. Barr in not only President Trump’s lackey, he has become the president’s doormat.
WTF is going on in the White House?
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Reblogged this on Art by Rob Goldstein and commented:
News you need to know.
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Thanks Gronda
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Dear Rob,
I bet there’ll be the same results with all the other GOP conspiracy invented crimes’ investigations that the president has been ordering the AG Barr to do as head of the DOJ.
Thanks a million for all your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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I see the good work you’re doing on Twitter, Gronda. It’s an interesting forum and not for the thin skinned.:)
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Dear Rob,
Thanks for the gracious feedback.
I don’t like the way Speaker Pelosi is discounting Twitter consumers as not being representative of most Democrats. That’s because her age and bias is showing. As per a 2019 Statista report only 7% of Twitter users are over 65 yrs. old and 17% are between 50-65 years old.
Twitter is used by mostly younger crowd which thinks differently than older Democrats. For example, it’s the older Democrats and our Black brothers and sisters who are supporting VP Biden to become the next Democratic Party presidential nominee.
But the speaker is not seeing the bigger picture. She needs to Google: Millennials and Gen Z will make up 37% of the 2020 electorate – Axios, published on 1/30/2019. It’s younger voters that will make the difference in voter turnout in 2020. She can’t afford to discount this segment of her base of voters.
Hugs, Gronda
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There’s another problem too, Gronda. Twitter is a horribly compromised platform that amplifies the worst in our country while allowing foreign states to create multiple fake accounts to poison our national debate. If you drill down into trump’s followers, you will find most of them are fakes and I guesstimate that at least a quarter of twitter self-identified ‘democratic’ and ‘progressive’ accounts
are fake. Many of these fake accounts are pushing for impeachment, and this may be why Pelosi dismisses twitter. These fake resistance accounts are clever and deceptive, you have to look closely
to see the real agenda. I think people who sincerely demand impeachment is right to do so. I also think we can do more to help Pelosi get there by spreading the Mueller Report and proactively keeping trump’s crimes in circulation.
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