The DOJ grilled Trump dossier author Christopher Steele for two days. What they reportedly heard was 'credible' and 'surprising.'
![The Department of Justice.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/SjJPSSbchFUs3dbr5WyMWa-415-80.jpg)
Christopher Steele is back.
The former MI6 agent behind the now-infamous "Steele Dossier" on President Trump's ties to Russia — you know, the one containing the alleged "pee tape" — was the subject of a two-day grilling by the Justice Department's internal watchdog in June, Politico reports. Coincidentally, the interview took place in London while Trump was on his state visit to the British capital.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been conducting an investigation into the FBI's efforts to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page based, in part, on information provided by Steele.
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The interview reportedly didn't start off well for either side. Horowitz's team wasn't sure about Steele as a credible witness, especially after the dossier was disputed by Trump and other officials. Steele, meanwhile, wasn't keen on speaking with the investigators because he's a foreign national.
But all's well that ends well. Both sides reportedly eased into the interview, and investigators found Steele's testimony credible and "even surprising." That's not good news for Trump allies who have claimed that Steele's dossier was used improperly by the FBI so they could "spy" on Trump's campaign. Read more at Politico.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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