DOJ and FBI backed the people accused of lying

 Washington Examiner:

...

The efforts by the DOJ and the FBI to defend the credibility of Steele’s dossier and his source were notable in 2018, the year after Danchenko allegedly lied to the bureau, and in the midst of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Then-Assistant Attorney General John Demers told Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Judge Rosemary Collyer in a July 2018 letter that Danchenko had been “truthful and cooperative” with the FBI. The DOJ official also defended the flawed FISA applications against Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

Demers told the FISA court: “The Government submits that the applications, read in light go this additional information, contain sufficient predication for the Court to have found probable cause that the target was an agent of a foreign power.”

The DOJ knew Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos repeatedly denied any Russia collusion in 2016 conversations with FBI confidential source Stefan Halper, denials not relayed to the FISA court.

“Even considering the additional information regarding Papadopoulos’ conversations with Source #2 [Halper] and others, and regarding Source #1 [Steele], the applications contained sufficient predication for the Court to have found probable cause that Page was acting as an agent of the Government of Russia,” Demers told the FISA court. “The FBI has reviewed this letter and confirmed its factual accuracy.”

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s December 2019 report undermined the dossier’s claims, and he criticized the DOJ and the FBI for at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Page and for the bureau's “central and essential” reliance on Steele’s dossier.

...

At a minimum, this raises questions about the competency of those making these assertions to the courts in furtherance of an unwarranted investigation of Trump and associaes.  By that time they should have known the dossier was bogus.

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