Republicans expressed shock and outrage after a report emerged that the FBI offered MI6 agent Christopher Steele up to $1 million to prove his salacious allegations against former President Donald Trump in his now-discredited dossier.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) described the revelation as a “disgrace,” while others said it was an absurdity unbecoming of the foremost domestic intelligence and security service. Many pointed to the incident as evidence the FBI is corrupt and must be reined in.
DURHAM WITNESS: FBI OFFERED STEELE $1M FOR PROOF OF DOSSIER CLAIMS, BUT HE HAD NONE
“You can’t make this stuff up. But I think it just underscores how out of touch and how political the FBI has become,” Jordan said in an appearance on Fox Business, later adding the episode “further validates what we all know, which is that the FBI is purely political now, going after their political opposition.”
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) October 12, 2022
“What a disgrace,” Donald Trump Jr., son of former President Donald Trump, said regarding the new report.
What a disgrace https://t.co/MhwgiiOPeW
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 12, 2022
“The lengths the FBI was willing to go at taxpayer expense to justify their investigation into the Trump campaign is just astounding and downright scary,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “For years, the FBI paid a sketchy Russian for unverified rumors about Trump associates, never mind that Danchenko had previously been the subject of a full FBI counterintelligence investigation, and is now on trial for repeatedly lying to the feds. Now we know that the FBI offered to pay $1 million to a former British spy to substantiate those rumors, which couldn’t be done because they weren’t true.”
Citing a quote about testimony that said “‘Steele never got the money because he could not ‘prove the allegations,'” the House Judiciary GOP Twitter account wrote in a tweet, “Well, duh,” mocking the FBI’s performance.
“Steele never got the money because he could not ‘prove the allegations.’”
Well, duh. https://t.co/8IV7tbAn8w
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) October 12, 2022
“The FBI allegedly tried to payout $1 million to corroborate reports about President Trump that Hillary Clinton’s campaign fabricated,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) tweeted.
The FBI allegedly tried to payout $1 million to corroborate reports about President Trump that Hillary Clinton’s campaign fabricated.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) October 12, 2022
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Many of the allegations in Steele’s dossier have since been debunked, such as the claim the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia, which was undermined by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2019 report. A watchdog also found the DOJ and the FBI put forth at least 17 “significant errors and omissions” related to the FISA warrants against Trump’s 2016 campaign associate Carter Page and the FBI’s reliance on the discredited dossier.
If Republicans win control of the House in the November midterm elections, Jordan will be poised to become chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The Ohio representative said he would use his new position to open investigations into the FBI over the Steele dossier, as well as several other recent incidents that Republicans decry as overreach.
