#FBI spread claim Trump worked with Russia, declassified document shows

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Former FBI Director James Comey
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

A newly declassified document reveals FBI officials circulated a claim that President Trump “worked with” Russia in 2016 and that his campaign was offered “financial compensation” to drop US sanctions.

The sensational claims were made by former British spy Christopher Steele, and were attached by the FBI in a classified annex to an intelligence community report on Russia’s role in the 2016 election. CBS News first reported Thursday that the document was partially declassified by intelligence director John Ratcliffe.

Steele was paid by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign to gather opposition research on Trump. He leaned on a network of sources to compile a dossier of allegations including unverified rumors, which was published by news outlets shortly after the intelligence assessment was complete.

An investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller later found no evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia, including on distribution of hacked Democratic emails.

Steele’s work and the FBI’s role in investigating Trump remains a subject of intrigue in Washington, with Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans now investigating the FBI’s work, including its use of Steele’s information to acquire surveillance court orders against Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, despite widely held doubts about the information’s accuracy.

Trump alleges he was the victim of a “hoax” intended to undermine his presidency.

The two-page FBI annex to the intelligence community’s assessment on Russia goes beyond the Steele dossier’s claims.

The now-declassified FBI annex says, referring to Steele: “The most politically sensitive claims by the FBI source alleged a close relationship between the President-elect and the Kremlin. The source claimed that the President-elect and his top campaign advisers knowingly worked with Russian officials to bolster his chances of beating Secretary Clinton; were fully knowledgeable of Russia’s direction of leaked Democratic emails; and were offered financial compensation from Moscow.”

Later, the annex elaborates: “The FBI source claimed that secret meetings between the Kremlin and the President-elect’s team were handled by some of the President-elect’s advisers, at least one of whom was allegedly offered financial remuneration for a policy change lifting sanctions on Russia.”

Members of Congress, including House Intelligence Committee Democrats who accused Trump of collusion, have access to classified documents in secure settings.

It’s not clear if Trump was made aware of the extent of Steele’s allegations against him, or the fact that the Clinton campaign had initially commissioned Steele’s work, when he was briefed about by then-FBI Director James Comey in January 2017.

According to a memo written by Comey, he told Trump that “the Russians allegedly had tapes involving him and prostitutes at the Presidential Suite at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow from about 2013.” Trump laughed off the claim, according to Comey’s memo.

Officials briefing Trump and outgoing President Barack Obama on the Steele dossier’s claim that Russia had compromising information on Trump resulted in a CNN article on the briefings, and later Buzzfeed’s decision to publish the dossier.

The newly declassified document includes a disclaimer that Steele “was unable to vouch for the additional information’s sourcing and accuracy. Hence this information is not included in this product.”

It also says: “The FBI source claimed that the Kremlin had cultivated the President-elect for at least five years; had fed him and his team intelligence about Secretary Clinton and other opponents for years, and agreed to use WikiLeaks in return for policy concessions by the President-elect — assuming he won the election — on NATO and Ukraine.”

Representatives for Comey and former director of national intelligence James Clapper, whose office assembled the assessment, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.