ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — The FBI offered British ex-spy Christopher Steele an “incentive” of up to $1 million if he could prove the allegations in his since-discredited anti-Trump dossier, but the former MI6 agent was unable to back up his claims, according to new court testimony.
The bombshell revelation came during special counsel John Durham’s false statements trial against Steele’s main dossier source, Russian-born lawyer Igor Danchenko, who has been charged with repeatedly lying to the bureau about his sourcing for information he provided for the dossier in 2016. Danchenko has pleaded not guilty.
But Auten said, “No,” when asked if Steele ever provided evidence backing up his dossier claims. The FBI analyst also testified Danchenko never provided corroboration for the dossier’s allegations either. The co-founders of opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which hired Steele to conduct his anti-Trump research, wrote that the October 2016 meeting"yielded an important bit of intelligence for Fusion" about Crossfire Hurricane. Clinton campaign lawyer Marc Elias hired Fusion GPS and met with Steele in 2016. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook has said Elias passed along to the Clinton campaign Trump-Russia details he learned from Fusion GPS.
Auten had also played a role in the bureau’s efforts to obtain flawed surveillance against Trump 2016 campaign associate Carter Page.
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