Freshly declassified FBI documents show that agency leadership knew early on that the dossier they used to pursue an investigation of President Trump did not support their theory that he colluded with Russia during his presidential campaign.
According to the papers,
released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday, disgraced agent Peter Strzok and his bosses were aware in January 2017 that the “Steele dossier” produced by a former MI6 agent was based only on rumors and third-hand accounts.
The revelations put Strzok and FBI bosses “in deep legal jeopardy in my view,” Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tweeted Friday.
The lack of direct evidence for ex-spy Christopher Steele’s allegations meant that they should not have been used in a warrant to snoop on Trump campaign aide Carter Page, Graham said.
But the FBI continued to rely on Steele’s report to twice renew the Page warrant and as a basis for Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation.
“These documents, which I have long sought, tell a damning story … behind the corrupt nature of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign in 2016 and beyond,” Graham added.