https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...e-fbi-and-the-dossier/?utm_term=.739cca38debf
..about Christopher Steele, the FBI and the Trump 'dossier'
Glenn Kessler Jan. 9, 2018
..“Near the start of July on his own initiative — without the permission of the U.S. company that hired him — he sent a report he had written for that firm to a contact at the FBI,” David Corn of Mother Jones
reported in October 2016, before the election, without identifying Steele as his source...
https://www.motherjones.com/politic...ing-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/
..
In June, the former Western intelligence officer—who spent almost two decades on Russian intelligence matters..—was assigned the task of researching Trump’s dealings in Russia and elsewhere, according to the former spy and his associates in this American firm. .. “It started off as a fairly general inquiry,” says the former spook, who asks not to be identified. But when he dug into Trump, he notes, he came across troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government. ..he says, “there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit.”
This was, the former spy remarks, “an extraordinary situation.” He regularly consults with US government agencies on Russian matters, and
near the start of July on his own initiative—without the permission of the US company that hired him—he sent a report he had written for that firm to a contact at the FBI, according to the former intelligence officer and his American associates, who asked not to be identified. (He declines to identify the FBI contact.) ..
Mother Jones has reviewed that report and other memos this former spy wrote..
A “few weeks” after Steele’s initial approach to the FBI, “the bureau asked him for information on his sources and their reliability and on how he had obtained his reports,” Corn reported in a January 2017 article. “He was also asked to continue to send copies of his subsequent reports to the bureau.”
In other words, by the end of the July, the leadership of the FBI was paying attention. Whether Steele’s initial approach to the FBI was as important as other elements — such as the DNC hack or the Australian communication — is unclear.
Simpson and Peter Fritsch,:. “As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp,” apparently ..Papadopoulos.
[Update: In his testimony ..Senate Judiciary Committee, released on Jan. 9.), Simpson said Steele’s memo was received favorably by the FBI because it tracked with their own intelligence. “My understanding was that they believed Chris at this point — that they believed Chris might be credible because they had other intelligence that indicated the same thing and one of those pieces of intelligence was a human source from inside the Trump organization,” Simpson said, apparently also a reference to Papadopoulos.]
..n this summer period, the FBI obtained a secret court order to monitor Page’s communications,.. According to CNN, Steele’s reports were part of the justification used to win approval of the court order, though the FBI apparently corroborated the information as part of its investigation..
..however, did not announce until Sept. 26 that he was taking a leave of absence because of negative news reporting on his Russia connections. Such a late approval of the FISA order does not fit with the timeline, but it conveniently suggests the FBI did not obtain a court order on a Trump adviser when he was active in the campaign.
[Update: The memo on the FISA application written by the majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee, released Feb. 2, 2018, states that the initial application was on Oct. 21, 2016, later than previously disclosed.]..
...The Post reported that the FBI had reached an agreement with Steele... [Update: In his testimony, Simpson revealed ..Steele at one point broke off communications with the FBI after the New York Times published an article saying the agency had found little evidence of ties between Trump and Russia.].
..
Steele was not being paid as an informant when he was in communication with the FBI, but he was certainly informing officials about his reports..
