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• Steele was paid over $160,000 by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and
Hillary for America (Clinton campaign) for his dossier. Neither the initial application in
October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton
campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele’s efforts, even though the political
origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials.
• While the FISA application relied on Steele’s past record of credible reporting on other
unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological
motivations.
o Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with
DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr. In September 2016,
Steele told Ohr, he “was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was
passionate about him not being president.” Ohr later relayed this evidence of
Steele’s bias to FBI, where it was recorded in official files, but not included in
any of the FISA applications.
o None of the FISA applications mention that the FBI had separately authorized
payment to Steele for the dossier information.
• According to the head of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, Assistant Director Bill
Priestap, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its “infancy” at the time of the initial
Page FISA application. In early January 2017, Director Comey briefed President-elect
Trump on a summary of the Steele dossier, a document he later described as “salacious
and unverified.”
• The Page FISA application incorrectly assesses that Steele did not directly provide
information to Yahoo News. Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with
Yahoo News—and several other outlets—in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion
GPS.
• Perkins Coie, the law firm that hired Fusion GPS on behalf of the DNC and Clinton
campaign, was aware of Steele’s initial media contacts, and hosted at least one meeting in
Washington D.C. in 2016 with Steele and Fusion GPS.
• Ohr’s wife was employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition
research on Trump. Ohr later provided the FBI with all of his wife’s opposition research,
paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS.
• The Page FISA application also mentions information regarding fellow Trump campaign
advisor George Papadopoulos, but there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy
between Page and Papadopoulos.
Top Ten Memo Facts
• The Memo is NOT intended to undermine the Special Counsel: It is intended to
expose past abuses of the FISA process at DOJ and FBI.
• The Memo is NOT intended to undermine DOJ or FBI: The House’s fulfillment of its
constitutional responsibilities enables effective constitutional oversight of those agencies.
• The Memo does NOT jeopardize national security: The careful release of [formerly]
classified information served the public interest, followed House rules, and included
Executive Branch review.