Steele dossier

Steele Dossier (p. 1)
Trump–Russia relations
Business interactions
Russian election interference
Investigations and reports
People
Deception and conspiracy theories
Literature
Categories
This article is part of
a series about
Donald Trump
Business and personal
45th & 47th President of the
United States
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Impeachments
Civil and criminal prosecutions
COVID-19 pandemic
Donald Trump's signature
Seal of the President of the United States

The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier,[1] is a controversial political opposition research report on the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump compiled by counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele. It was published without permission in 2017 as an unfinished 35-page compilation of "unverified, and potentially unverifiable"[a] memos that were considered by Steele to be "raw intelligence — not established facts, but a starting point for further investigation".[3][4][5]

The dossier was written from June to December 2016 and contains allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Trump's presidential campaign and the government of Russia prior to and during the 2016 election campaign.[6] Several key dossier allegations made in June 2016 about the Russian government's efforts to get Trump elected, were later described as "prescient"[7] because they were corroborated six months later in the January 2017 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence[8][9] and the Mueller Report, namely that Vladimir Putin favored Trump over Hillary Clinton;[8][10] that he personally ordered an "influence campaign" to harm Clinton's campaign and to "undermine public faith in the US democratic process"; that he ordered cyberattacks on both parties;[8] and that many Trump campaign officials and associates had numerous secretive contacts with Russian officials and agents.[11][12]

It was based on information from initially anonymous sources known to the author, counterintelligence specialist[13] Christopher Steele,[14] and his "primary sub-source", Igor Danchenko.[15] Steele, a former head of the Russia Desk for British intelligence (MI6), was writing the report for the private investigative firm Fusion GPS, that was paid by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).[16] The dossier's 17 reports allege that Trump campaign members and Russian operatives had conspired to cooperate in Russia's election interference to benefit Trump.[17] It also alleges that Russia sought to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy.[18] It was published by BuzzFeed News on January 10, 2017, without Steele's permission.[2] Their decision to publish the reports without verifying the allegations was criticized by journalists.[19][20] However, a judge defended BuzzFeed's action on the basis that the dossier was part of an official proceeding, and therefore "protected by fair reporting privilege".[21]

The United States intelligence community and most experts have treated the dossier with caution due to its unverified allegations.[22] While compiling the dossier, Steele passed his findings to both British and American intelligence services.[10][23] The U.S. intelligence community took the allegations seriously,[24] and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated every line of the dossier and identified and spoke with at least two of Steele's sources.[3] The Mueller Report contained passing references to some of the dossier's allegations but little mention of its more sensational claims.[3]

While Steele's documents played a significant role in initially highlighting the general friendliness between Trump and the Putin administration, the veracity status of specific allegations is highly variable. Some have been publicly confirmed,[b] others are plausible but not specifically confirmed,[25][26] and some are dubious in retrospect but not strictly disproven.[27][28][29] While the dossier played a central and essential role in the seeking of FISA warrants on Carter Page,[30] it did not play any role in the January 6, 2017, intelligence community assessment of the Russian actions in the 2016 election,[31] and it was not the trigger for the opening of the Russia investigation into whether the Trump campaign was coordinating with the Russian government's interference in the 2016 presidential election.[32] The dossier is a factor in several conspiracy theories promoted by Trump[33] and his supporters.[32][34]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Allen_3/7/2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Bensinger_1/10/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Shane_Goldman_Rosenberg_4/19/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gross_Simpson_Fritsch_11/26/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kessler_10/29/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lucas_8/23/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rosenberg_3/14/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ODNI_1/6/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sciutto_Perez_2/10/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Levine_1/12/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Yourish_Buchanan_1/26/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Leonnig_Helderman_5/17/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Harding_Sabbagh_11/1/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shane_Confessore_Rosenberg_1/12/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kranish_11/23/2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Entous_Barrett_Helderman_10/24/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sumter_11/16/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sipher_1/11/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bump_1/11/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Zurawik_1/11/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Johnson_12/19/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Breuninger_1/13/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sengupta_1/13/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chait_12/7/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lee_12/26/2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Farhi_11/12/2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference MSNBC_5/22/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hutzler_8//16/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grant_Rosenberg_12/14/2018_2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sanchez_12/11/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Cite error: The named reference Benner_Barnes_12/19/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  32. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Goldman_Savage_11/22/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kruzel_7/23/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rupar_03/22/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).