Republicans Blast FBI for Alleged $1M Steele Dossier Offer Christopher Steele, former Russia analyst and intelligence officer for the British government. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images))
By Solange Reyner | Wednesday, 12 October 2022 03:41 PM EDT
Republicans on Wednesday said the bombshell revelation that the FBI offered Christopher Steele $1 million to corroborate Trump allegations in a dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton's campaign is further evidence of the agency's corrupt and political ways.
"You can't make this stuff up. But I think it just underscores how out of touch and how political the FBI has become," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in an appearance on Fox Business, later adding the episode "further validates what we all know, which is that the FBI is purely political now, going after their political opposition."
FBI senior intelligence analyst Brian Auten on Tuesday during opening statements in Igor Danchenko's trial said Steele, a former Russia analyst and intelligence officer for the British government who played a major role in the creation of the flawed dossier, was offered as much as $1 million if he could supply corroboration for the allegations in the document, but none was provided.
The trial in Alexandria, Virginia, is likely Special Counsel John Durham's final prosecution in his investigation into the FBI's probe into potential Trump-Russia collusion. Danchenko was the primary sub-source of the Steele dossier and has pleaded not guilty to five counts of lying to the FBI about who his main source of information was for his contributions to the document.
Auten interviewed Danchenko in January 2017.
"Fascinating revelations out of the first two days of the Durham trial: FBI offered Chris Steele $1 million to prove his bs "Steele dossier" (which was relied on to defraud a FISA court) and he couldn't!" tweeted George Papadopoulos, a former Trump adviser.
Donald Trump Jr., called Auten's revelation a "disgrace" and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Americans need accountability now.
"For two years, Adam Schiff and the Democrats peddled the Russian collusion hoax," he said. "Now we know the FBI offered Christopher Steele a million dollars to produce evidence for his dossier — evidence that didn't exist. We need accountability now."
The House Judiciary GOP account tweeted: Steele never got the money because he could not 'prove the allegations.' "
"Well, duh."