FBI Was Willing To Pay Author Of Russian Dossier As It Debunked It

A story that you might have missed yesterday with all the focus on the Trump address was that the FBI had come to an agreement just weeks before the election to pay a former MI6 officer, Christopher Steele, who had put together the "Russian dossier" on Trump so that he could continue his investigation.

The officer's investigation was being paid for by a private opposition research group that was supporting Hillary Clinton but his funding was set to run out as the election approached. Steele had already previous dealings with the FBI and the Bureau agree to pay him for his work going forward. The agreement fell apart when stories about Steele's dossier appeared in various newspapers.

The fact that the FBI was apparently willing to continue to pay Steele shows that the Bureau believed that parts, in not all, of it could be credible and was willing to let the investigation continue. But it also raises even more questions about the FBI's and James Comey's actions in particular.

First, it seems quite odd that the FBI would essentially be paying someone who was essentially an opposition researcher for Hillary Clinton while the election campaign was still going on. Even Trump supporters should question that decision. On the other hand, when reports about the Russian dossier surfaced in late October, the FBI apparently shot down those stories and James Comey refused to even admit there was an investigation into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. That seems kind of odd considering they were willing to pay Steele to continue his investigation.

Another alternative explanation actually accounts for both of those oddities and is frankly even scarier. Based on Comey's illegal and egregious intervention into the election in support of Donald Trump, it seems more likely that the FBI was paying Steele to accomplish two objectives. First, it allowed the FBI to get the details on the Russian dossier and brief the Trump campaign and administration about it. And, in fact, that is what the FBI did after the inauguration. But the other advantage of paying Steele would be that the Bureau could then credibly say they clearly took his claims seriously while at the same time being able to stifle the investigation. Will James Comey ever be forced to come clean on what he was up to? Not until Democrats control at least the House or the Senate. Get to work, Tom Perez.