Tag: Christopher Steele

Ivanka Trump was in touch with Christopher Steele in 2007 and 2008 — and considered using his firm for Trump Organization projects: report

AlterNet logoFormer U.K. intelligence official Christopher Steele is best known for authoring the Steele dossier, which described alleged links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. But according to a report by ABC News, Steele was in touch with the Trump Organization long before that — specifically, Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.

ABC News reports that Steele first met Ivanka Trump at a dinner in 2007, which was nine years before her father was elected president of the United States. At the time, she was executive vice president of the Trump Organization — where she managed foreign real estate projects, and some of those projects were in parts of the world where Steele’s security firm, Orbin Business Intelligence, was doing business.

The two of them, according to e-mail exchanges obtained by ABC News, discussed the services that Orbin could possibly offer the Trump Organization in non-U.S. markets. Trump and Steele stayed in touch in the late 2000s and considered working together — although it never came about.

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Trump’s attempts to smear Christopher Steele just hit a roadblock

Trump’s attempts to smear Christopher Steele just hit a roadblock

For months, President Donald Trump and his allies have tried to smear Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous Steele Dossier, as someone bent on bringing down the president through lies and deceit.

But after this week’s revelations, they might have to try a new strategy.

As Reuters first reported, attorneys from the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General’s Office grilled Steele early last month in the U.K. A report in Politico added that the two-day interview took a total of 16 hours.

View the complete July 10 article by Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.

Hero or hired gun? How a British former spy became a flash point in the Russia investigation.

The following article by Tom Hamburger and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website February 6, 2018:

The Russia probe got its start with a drunken conversation, an ex-spy, WikiLeaks and a distracted FBI. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

In the fall of 2016, a little more than a month before Donald Trump was elected president, Christopher Steele had theundivided attention of the FBI.

For months, the British former spy had been working to alert the Americans to what he believed were disturbing ties Trump had to Russia. He had grown so worried about what he had learned from his Russia network about the Kremlin’s plans that he told colleagues it was like “sitting on a nuclear weapon.” Continue reading “Hero or hired gun? How a British former spy became a flash point in the Russia investigation.”

What you need to know about Christopher Steele, the FBI and the Trump ‘dossier’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website January 9, 2019:

The Russia probe got its start with a drunken conversation, an ex-spy, WikiLeaks and a distracted FBI. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“Mr. Steele was on the payroll of Fusion GPS, who was being paid by the Democratic Party to do opposition research on Donald Trump. That while he was working with the FBI, he was shopping this dossier all over the world. That’s not what an informant should do.”
— Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Jan. 7, 2018

Graham and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Jan. 5 referredChristopher Steele, the author of the “dossier” alleging ties between President Trump and Russia, for a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. The move is an unexpected twist in the saga over the document, which was gossiped about in journalistic circles during the 2016 presidential election until a version was published by BuzzFeed shortly before Trump’s inauguration. Continue reading “What you need to know about Christopher Steele, the FBI and the Trump ‘dossier’”

Senior Republican refers Trump-Russia dossier author for possible charges

The following article by Devlin Barrett and Tom Hamburger was posted on the Washington Post website January 5, 2018:

Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, shown in London in March. (Victoria Jones/PA Images/AP)

The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended Friday that the Justice Department investigate for possible criminal charges the author of the now-famous dossier alleging the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin during the 2016 election.

The move by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) marks a major escalation in conservatives’ challenges to the FBI’s credibility as the agency investigates whether any Trump associates committed crimes. Another Republican, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), joined in the letter to the Justice Department.

Their letter makes what is called a criminal referral to the Justice Department, suggesting it investigate the dossier’s author, former British spy Christopher Steele, for possibly lying to the FBI. It is a crime to lie to FBI agents about a material fact relevant to an ongoing investigation. Continue reading “Senior Republican refers Trump-Russia dossier author for possible charges”