The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General interviewed the British ex-spy who authored the unsubstantiated and salacious dossier attacking President Trump and extended its investigation afterward, according to a new report.

Michael Horowitz, the DOJ inspector general, launched an investigation in March 2018 into whether the FBI and DOJ filing of four FISA applications and renewals beginning in October 2016 to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was an abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process. The applications relied heavily upon the unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS. The opposition research firm was hired by Marc Elias of the Perkins Coie law firm at the behest of the Clinton presidential campaign.