The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Former intelligence official speaks of controversial "Steele Dossier" on Trump and Russia

2021-10-18T06:16:07.705Z


This is former British intelligence official Christopher Steele, the man behind the "Steele Dossier" that claimed Russian officials had compromising information on former President Donald Trump.


What if Trump returned to power in the United States?

0:31

(CNN) -

Former British intelligence official Christopher Steele, the man behind the "Steele Dossier" that claimed Russian officials had compromising information about former President Donald Trump, defended the claims made in the file in his first on-camera interview since disclosures in 2017.

In a clip released Sunday from an ABC News documentary, Steele said he decided to do the interview now because he wanted to "set the record straight" about his role in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. ABC published a portion of the interview. documentary with parts of Steele's interview on Sunday, and the full documentary is scheduled to be released on Hulu early Monday morning.

"Most of the world first heard your name about five years ago, but you've been silent until now. Why speak now?" Asked host George Stephanopoulos.

"I think the first and foremost (reason) is that the problems that we identified in 2016 have not gone away, and possibly they have gotten worse, and I thought it was important to come out and set the record straight," Steele said.

  • OPINION |

    Trump is sabotaging himself

Steele's unverified file became one of the most controversial aspects of the FBI investigation into Trump and Russia that led to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Many of the claims, such as the so-called "rust tape," were never proven, despite the FBI's efforts to verify the lewd allegations and years of Congressional investigators investigating the claims involving the former president and Russia.

The Mueller report also concluded that another allegation Steele made, that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen traveled to Prague in 2016 to meet with Russian officials, was not true.

advertising

Steele reinforced his belief that most of the claims made in the record are accurate.

"I stand behind the work we did, the sources we had, and the professionalism we applied to it," Steele said.

The FBI's use of Steele's file to obtain a foreign surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page was the subject of a scathing report by the Justice Department inspector general released in 2019. The report found that the The FBI investigation into Russia was successfully launched, but it raised serious questions about Steele's sources for the file, including the fact that his main source told the FBI that they may have discussed Trump's alleged sexual activities "in jest" and that the tape was "hearsay and speculation."

  • OPINION |

    A terrifying portrait of Donald Trump's life in the White House

Steele reaffirmed his confidence in the most controversial claim in the unverified file: that Russia had a video of Trump watching prostitutes urinate in a hotel suite, according to BuzzFeed News, which published the full file.

In January 2017, CNN reported that top intelligence officials presented then-President Trump with claims from the Steele Dossier.

There is no evidence that the tape exists, and Trump has denied that the alleged incident took place.

Steele said he thinks Russia is probably holding "kompromat" against Trump, and when pressed by ABC if he thinks Russia has a tape of Trump with prostitutes in a Russian hotel, Steele said the tape "probably" exists, but that Russia has evaluated that "has not needed to be released".

"And today, do you still think that tape exists?" Asked Stephanopoulos.

"I think probably yes, but I wouldn't give it 100% certainty," Steele said.

"So how do you explain that if the tape really exists, it hasn't been released?" Asked Stephanopoulos.

"Well, they don't need to publish it," Steele said.

"I think the Russians felt they got a lot out of Donald Trump when he was president of the United States."

Steele supported many of the claims made in his initial file, including Cohen's trip to Prague.

Cohen denied under oath that he traveled to the Czech Republic during a 2019 congressional hearing and has cooperated with investigators investigating Trump.

A 2019 report from the Justice Department inspector general showed that the FBI proved that Cohen did not travel to Prague in 2016.

Steele rationalized that Cohen could still be lying about traveling to Prague despite cooperating with investigators on other matters, saying that the trip to Prague would be "very self-incriminating to a very high degree."

"Since he went to prison, since he turned on President Trump, he has told each and every story. Why wouldn't he admit this?" Asked Stephanopoulos.

"I think it's so incriminating and degrading," Steele said.

"And the other reason is that he might be afraid of the consequences."

In a statement to CNN, Michael Cohen refuted Steele's claims, saying, "I look forward to his next secret file proving the existence of Bigfoot the Loch Ness monster and that Elvis is still alive."

  • ANALYSIS |

    Jan.6 investigation faces perennial dilemma: how to hold Trump to account

When asked if he thinks the credibility of his file has suffered after the Justice Department inspector general was unable to prove his claim about Cohen's trip to Prague, Steele said he is "still not convinced" that Cohen did not travel to Prague.

"Do you think it hurts your credibility and everything that you don't accept the FBI's findings in this particular case?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"I'm willing to accept that not everything on the record is 100% accurate. I'm still not convinced that point is one of those," Steele said.

Chris steele

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-10-18

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-08T07:27:36.193Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.