![]() Written in the midst of the campaign, Steele’s memos contained allegations that Russia was waging a broad effort to interfere, and Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the effort, motivated by his “fear and hatred” of Clinton. Steele’s dossier eventually made its way to the FBI, which cross-referenced Steele’s work with its own burgeoning investigation into Russian meddling. Steele, a former MI6 intelligence operative, has a history of working with US agencies, including the FBI, and helped with the corruption investigation into FIFA, the world soccer governing body. Steele’s intelligence memos detail a pattern and preference for Trump that have since been confirmed by the US intelligence community and indictments against Russians brought by Mueller’s investigation. While Trump and his supporters have seized on the most salacious, uncorroborated claims to discredit the dossier as a “pile of garbage,” much of Steele’s memos focused on Russia’s role interfering in the 2016 election. Trump and his associates who were named in the dossier continue to vehemently deny any collusion. ![]() They have since been revealed in Mueller’s court filings, countless news reports and testimony on Capitol Hill. When he wrote his memos in 2016, hardly any of these contacts were publicly known. But his claim that there was regular contact between Trump’s campaign and Russians has held up over time. Steele’s memos lay out specific meetings that haven’t been corroborated. But in the two years since those denials were issued, news reports and court filings revealed that at least 16 Trump associates had contacts with Russians during the campaign or transition. When the memos spilled into public view, Trump and at least five other senior administration officials denied in emphatic and often sweeping terms that anyone involved in the campaign was in contact with Russians. Steele’s raw intelligence reports cited unnamed sources alleging these communications were part of a widespread effort to collude on the election and secure the White House for Trump. The dossier contains allegations against several of Trump’s campaign officials and associates of having secret contacts with Russians during the campaign. While the Steele dossier is largely known for one or two key unsavory details, here’s the full rundown of how Steele’s work holds up with what we now know about Trump’s team, their contacts with Russians and Russian election meddling.Ĭontacts between Trump’s team and Russians The most salacious claims in the dossier remain unproven two years after it first burst into the public conversation, but many of the allegations that form the bulk of the intelligence memos have held up over time, or have proven to be at least partially true. CNN did not publish the dossier, because of its unverified status, but BuzzFeed soon posted all the memos online “so that Americans can make up their own minds.” Days later, CNN broke the story of that briefing and reported that the FBI was investigating the accuracy of the allegations. It was two years ago, January 6, 2017, that then-FBI Director James Comey briefed President-elect Trump about some details from the dossier. Trump has said the memos are “phony” and full of lies, and has pointed out that the project was funded by his political opponents, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign. ![]() To Trump and some of his loudest defenders, the dossier was flawed from its inception, abused by the FBI to pursue an investigation into Trump’s team that preceded the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. To Democrats and President Donald Trump’s critics, the documents tell a story that could amount to treason. The controversial 35 pages of intelligence memos compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele paint a picture of widespread conspiracy of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. It’s a document that became so famous - or infamous - in the two years since its existence was reported that it’s now known by a simple two-word phrase: the dossier.
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