Page:The Democrats' Memo- Charge and Response.pdf/4

behind the research.” In fact, as disclosed in the GOP memo and confirmed by the Graham-Grassley referral, Steele was motivated by a “desperate” desire to keep Donald Trump from becoming President.

CHARGE: DOJ explained the FBI’s reasonable basis for finding Steele credible. (p. 6)

RESPONSE: FBI’s reliance on Steele’s credibility was badly misplaced. Steele violated FBI’s trust by making unauthorized disclosures to the media in October 2016, resulting in his termination as an FBI source.

Moreover, as explained in Senators Graham and Grassley’s declassified criminal referral of Steele, he “told the FBI he had not shared the Carter Page dossier information beyond his client [Glenn Simpson] and FBI,” and DOJ “repeated that claim to the FISC”—four times. In reality, in September 2016—before the initial FISA application—Steele had personally shared dossier information with:

• Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News, which published a September 2016 article on Page using Steele’s information (as now publicly confirmed by Isikoff);
• At least four other U.S. media outlets (confirmed in Steele’s May 2017 U.K. court filing, which was made before—but not disclosed in—the June 2017 FISA renewal);
• Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, whose wife was employed by Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump (as described in the GOP memo);
• A senior State Department official, Jonathan Winer (publicly confirmed by Winer in a Washington Post op-ed); and
• Perkins Coie, the law firm for DNC and the Clinton campaign (as described in the GOP memo).

Finally, notwithstanding FBI’s confidence in Steele, at the time of the initial FISA application the agency had virtually no visibility into the credibility of Steele’s sub-sources and sub-sub-sources who originated the dossier’s allegations.

CHARGE: The GOP memo does not cite evidence that Steele disclosed to Yahoo News details included in the FISA warrant. (p. 6)

RESPONSE: As noted in the Democrat memo, both the initial FISA application and the Steele dossier include the allegation from Steele that Carter Page met with two specific Russians, Igor Sechin and Igor Diveykin, in July 2016. A September 2016 article by Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News contains the exact same allegation, attributed to a “well-placed Western intelligence source.” Steele has admitted to meeting with Yahoo News in September 2016, and Isikoff has publicly confirmed that Steele was a source for the article.

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