Sarah Sybert
Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, has removed redactions from Michael Horowitz’s April 2nd report, showing disinformation from Christopher Steele, he reported on Sunday.
The classified footnotes have revealed Russian federal disinformation of the Christopher Steele dossier used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The information attempted to taint president Trump during his investigation. Grenell’s decision would provide further evidence that a new type of government operative had run the nation’s intelligence collection networks.
Grenell did not come out of the spy network, which has been criticized by president Trump. In February, Trump tapped a supporter who displayed his pro-administration support on Twitter as ambassador to Germany.
On April 2, Steele and his Democratic Party-financed dossier remained hidden. Horowitz released a report in December on FBI surveillance abuse, but the details on the Kremlin and the dossier remained redacted in a series of narrative footnotes.
The FBI team that has investigated Trump and his campaign condemned Trump’s actions. Horowitz noted how the bureau committed over a dozen offenses of giving false information while omitting exonerating evidence when agents won four warrants from judges to investigate on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) asked the Justice Department to release the footnotes in January.
