Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
John Kerry, State Dept In Crosshairs As House Intel Committee Enters "Phase Two"
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The House Select Committee on Intelligence has John Kerry in its crosshairs - as Congressional investigators explore what involvement, if any, the former Secretary of State had in the unverified "Steele dossier" which relied on intelligence from high level Kremlin officials at a time when US-Russia relations were deteriorating.
Assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele, the "dossier" is actually a collection of memos which contain both wildly salacious claims and loosely factual information - much of it based on hearsay or public knowledge.
Steele was paid $168,000 by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, while Fusion was funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The FBI, however, had previously agreed to pay Steele $50,000 if he could verify the dossier's claims - which he was unable to do.
Still, the FBI used Steele's dossier - a collection of 17 memos, in their application for a FISA warrant to spy on Trump advisor Carter Page - and via "unmasking," his associates.
After the House Intel Committee majority released their four-page "FISA memo" detailing how senior officials at the FBI and DOJ used the unverified and highly biased Steele dossier to obtain a FISA warant, and the House Intel Committee minority released their own "counter memo," the investigation moved into Phase II.
Phase II
House Intel Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) gave us a peek behind the curtain in early February, telling Fox's Bret Baier "We are in the middle of what I call phase two of our investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the State Department and some of the involvement that they had in this."
While it is unclear what role the State Department may have in surveillance abuses, the Washington Examiner's Byron York noted last month that former MI6 spy, Christopher Steele, was "well-connected with the Obama State Department," according to the book Collusion: Secret meetings, dirty money, and how Russia helped Donald Trump win" written by The Guardian correspondent Luke Harding.
Assembled by former British spy Christopher Steele, the "dossier" is actually a collection of memos which contain both wildly salacious claims and loosely factual information - much of it based on hearsay or public knowledge.
Steele was paid $168,000 by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, while Fusion was funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The FBI, however, had previously agreed to pay Steele $50,000 if he could verify the dossier's claims - which he was unable to do.
Still, the FBI used Steele's dossier - a collection of 17 memos, in their application for a FISA warrant to spy on Trump advisor Carter Page - and via "unmasking," his associates.
After the House Intel Committee majority released their four-page "FISA memo" detailing how senior officials at the FBI and DOJ used the unverified and highly biased Steele dossier to obtain a FISA warant, and the House Intel Committee minority released their own "counter memo," the investigation moved into Phase II.
Phase II
House Intel Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) gave us a peek behind the curtain in early February, telling Fox's Bret Baier "We are in the middle of what I call phase two of our investigation, which involves other departments, specifically the State Department and some of the involvement that they had in this."
While it is unclear what role the State Department may have in surveillance abuses, the Washington Examiner's Byron York noted last month that former MI6 spy, Christopher Steele, was "well-connected with the Obama State Department," according to the book Collusion: Secret meetings, dirty money, and how Russia helped Donald Trump win" written by The Guardian correspondent Luke Harding.
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