Ex-spy behind Trump dossier believes it is 70 to 90 percent true

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the controversial dossier alleging Russia possesses compromising information about President Trump, believes the document is just 70 to 90 percent accurate, The Guardian reported Wednesday. Steele's assessment of his own work was reported on by Guardian journalist Luke Harding in his forthcoming book about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In January, BuzzFeed News published the unverified dossier in full, which alleges that the Russian government has salacious information on Trump that could leave him vulnerable to pressure from the Kremlin. Steele reportedly told friends that reading the dossier would be "a life-changing experience" for anyone who did so. "I've been dealing with [Russia] for 30 years," Harding quotes Steele as saying. "Why would I invent this stuff?"

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Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.