IG Report: FBI Gave 'Highly Classified' Info to Anti-Trump Steele Dossier Author
Inspector General Michael Horowitz makes discovery on Hillary Clinton-funded dossier
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Inspector General Michael Horowitz has made a bombshell discovery that the FBI gave "highly classified" intelligence to the British spy who authored the infamous anti-Trump dossier, Christopher Steele, according to reports.
IG Horowitz reportedly found that agents shared the information with Steele shortly before the 2016 election during a meeting in Rome.
According to RealClearInvestigations, the revelation is buried deep in the IG report on the government's abuse of federal surveillance powers.
The report finds that senior FBI agents met with Steele, who compiled the anti-Trump "dossier" for Hillary Clinton's campaign, in Rome in October 2016.
They gave Steele a "general overview" of "Crossfire Hurricane" — the name for the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.
Agents also gave Steele info on key Trump campaign members.
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Astonishingly, the FBI compensated Steele $15,000 for the meeting.
The agency was also fully aware that Steele was compiling research for Clinton and Fusion GPS.
Much of the public reporting regarding this meeting has focused on the information Steele shared with the FBI.
Steele's unreliable info was one of the many reasons agents should have doubted the dossier's credibility, according to RealClearInvestigations.
But largely neglected has been the opposite side of the equation – what the FBI told Steele.
The Inspector General reports that the bureau revealed to him much of the highly classified information that it had gathered regarding alleged Trump-Russia links.
Just weeks after "unlawfully" sharing highly classified information with Steele, the FBI severed its relationship with the British spy for leaking information to the media, according to the report.
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The IG report states that the breach of classified information was investigated, but action was not taken against the agents responsible.
Instead, "the IG report offers possible explanations for the agent's behavior," RCI notes.
The report, though, suggests the agent had permission to share classified information with Steele, but such permission, if it had been granted, was not properly recorded.
Unfortunately, Office of the Inspector General spokesperson Stephanie Logan declined to comment on the findings.
