Posted on Jan 30, 2018 Updated on May 22, 2021, 2:47 am CDT
For the past year, a segment of the population has been obsessed with a certain dossier, so much so that words like kompromat, pee tape, Christopher Steele, and Fusion GPS have permanently entered the lexicon.
Well, get ready to do that whole dance all over again, this time to different-but-similar tune, because the Guardian just revealed the existence of a second dossier the FBI has in its possession.
The FBI inquiry into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election has been given a second memo that independently set out some of the same allegations made in a dossier by Christopher Steele, the British former spy.
It has alternatively been described as a memo and a dossier, but the Guardian says the FBI is looking at claims it made, which may independently verify accusations in the Steele dossier.
One source with knowledge of the inquiry said the fact the FBI was still working on it suggested investigators had taken an aspect of it seriously.
It raises the possibility that parts of the Steele dossier, which has been derided by Trump’s supporters, may have been corroborated by Shearer’s research, or could still be.
This memo, though, will instantly be subjected to the same partisan division as the Steele dossier. Not only was it provided to the FBI by Steele when it sought documentation for claims in his dossier, it comes from Cody Shearer, a former journalist who has long ties to the Clintons. Shearer has been the subject of the same swirling conspiracies that seem to follow the Clintons everywhere, and the National Review once called him the “strangest character” in the Clinton orbit. He’s even been described as a “secret spy” for Bill and Hillary.
According to the Guardian, the FBI received the Shearer memo in October 2016. And yes, it does back up Steele’s most salacious claim. Sort of.
The Guardian was told Steele warned the FBI he could not vouch for the veracity of the Shearer memo, but that he was providing a copy because it corresponded with what he had separately heard from his own independent sources.
David Covucci is the senior politics and technology editor at the Daily Dot, covering the nexus between Washington and Silicon Valley. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications. He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at dcovucci@thedailydot.com.
