Ex-spy Christopher Steele stands behind the thrust of his Trump-Russia dossier, even the salacious 'kompromat'

Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who wrote the dossier on then-candidate Donald Trump's ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, broke his silence in an interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos released Monday on Hulu.
Steele broadly stood by the dossier he compiled for Fusion GPS, a client of Hillary Clinton's campaign, despite the fact that many claims — including the most salacious one — have not been corroborated. "Everyone with whom the dossier was shared sent reporters out, tried to confirm the basic allegations within it," Steele critic Barry Meier told ABC News, but "no one could nail anything in it down."
Steele conceded "there are one or two things in it which have been proven wrong," but not many, and while compiling the dossier, he said, "we knew some of it was right, and we suspected some of it may never be provable."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Steele said his report stands on "four pillars," three of them focusing on the "large-scale Russian interference campaign in the American election" to harm Clinton and boost Trump, "and the fourth was, there was evidence of collusion between Trump and people around Trump and the Russians." He argued Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report backed those up.
"Frankly, George, when we went into it, we weren't expecting to find a great deal," Steele said, but when he started digging, he was "surprised and shocked" to learn "there was a potentially serious situation of 'kompromat' against a presidential candidate," raising the stakes considerably.
The most infamous piece of alleged "kompromat" — or blackmail material — Steele included in his dossier was a video said to have been taken of Trump and urinating prostitutes. The "pee tape" has never surfaced, and Trump continues to deny it exists. Steele said "I think it probably does, but I wouldn't put 100 percent certainty on it." He speculated that it was never leaked because Russian President Vladimir Putin would "make sure it never got out, unless he chose for it to get out," and "it hasn't needed to be released," largely "because I think the Russians felt they'd got pretty good value out of Donald Trump when he was president of the U.S."
Chris Burrows, Steele's partner at Orbis Business Intelligence, said he urged Steele to "please take out the pee-pee tape. The golden rule for golden showers is that you just don't talk about sex in reports." Read more at ABC News.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Storm warning
Feature The U.S. is headed for an intense hurricane season. Will a shrunken FEMA and NOAA be able to respond?
-
U.S. v. Skrmetti: Did the trans rights movement overreach?
Feature The Supreme Court upholds a Tennessee law that bans transgender care for minors, dealing a blow to trans rights
-
How would the Trump administration denaturalize immigrant citizens?
Today's Big Question Using civil courts lowers the burden of proof
-
How would the Trump administration denaturalize immigrant citizens?
Today's Big Question Using civil courts lowers the burden of proof
-
'Trucking is a dangerous business'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policies
Speed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
-
Obama, Bush and Bono eulogize USAID on final day
Speed Read The US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian organization, has been gutted by the Trump administration
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
Will NATO countries meet their new spending goal?
today's big question The cost of keeping Trump happy