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Ex-MI6 Agent Steele Produced 2nd 'Russiagate' Dossier for FBI During Trump Presidency, Report Says

© AFP 2023 / Mandel NganA crest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen 03 August 2007 inside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, DC.
A crest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is seen 03 August 2007 inside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, DC. - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.05.2021
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The so-called Steele Dossier used unreliable sources to accuse Donald Trump of conspiring with Russia ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, collusion that was rejected by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe in 2019.

Former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele produced a second, previously unpublished dossier for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Donald Trump during his presidency, The Telegraph has cited unnamed sources as saying.

The ex-MI6 agent's first dossier was leaked to and published by BuzzFeed in January 2017, a report that comprised claims of alleged collaboration between the Trump campaign and Russia in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections.

© AP Photo / Victoria JonesFILE - This Tuesday, March 7, 2017 file photo shows Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who set up Orbis Business Intelligence and compiled a dossier on Donald Trump, in London
Ex-MI6 Agent Steele Produced 2nd 'Russiagate' Dossier for FBI During Trump Presidency, Report Says - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.05.2021
FILE - This Tuesday, March 7, 2017 file photo shows Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who set up Orbis Business Intelligence and compiled a dossier on Donald Trump, in London

The dossier included bombshell materials ostensibly related to Trump, including an alleged sex tape of the ex-POTUS with a prostitute at a Moscow hotel in 2013.

The Telegraph's sources argued that the second dossier "contains raw intelligence that makes further claims of Russian meddling in the US election and also references claims regarding the existence of further sex tapes".

According to the insiders, the document relies on "separate sources to those who supplied information for the first reports".

The newspaper reported that the existence of the second dossier means that Steele's work "was apparently still being taken seriously" after Trump assumed office in 2017.

The news outlet went on to argue that "intelligence gathered by Steele for his second dossier is understood to include further details of [Trump's campaign chairman Paul] Manafort's alleged Russian contacts". Washington has not commented on The Telegraph report yet.

FBI Knew Steele Dossier on Russia-Trump 'Collusion' Was 'Rumours at Best'

The second dossier-related allegations came after Chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham released declassified documents in July 2020 indicating that the FBI knew about the unreliability of the first Steele Dossier.  

The first document contains the FBI's interview with Steele's "primary sub-source", who revealed that the former MI6 operative's dossier on the alleged ties between President Donald Trump and Russia was "unsubstantiated and unreliable".

According to the document, the material that the source gave to Steele was "second and third-hand information and rumours at best".

© AP Photo / Rahmat GulU.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, speaks during a press conference at the Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 16, 2019.
Ex-MI6 Agent Steele Produced 2nd 'Russiagate' Dossier for FBI During Trump Presidency, Report Says - Sputnik International, 1920, 04.05.2021
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, speaks during a press conference at the Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Dec. 16, 2019.

Another declassified document included type-written notes by former FBI special agent Peter Strzok pertaining to claims made in a New York Times article published on 14 February 2017 about alleged Russian intelligence ties to the Trump campaign.

Strzok described as "misleading and inaccurate" the claims that the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials before the 2016 US presidential election, noting that there was "no evidence" of this.

Steele Dossier

The 35-page Steele dossier, published a week before Trump's inauguration in January 2017, alleged that Russian intelligence had compromising information on the then-US president and that the Kremlin and Trump had "extensive" secret back channels.

The dossier, which was proven to be untrue after being leaked, became part of the Democrats three-year campaign accusing Trump of colluding with Russia.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to Camp David, August 30, 2019. - Sputnik International, 1920, 03.10.2019
Trump Says to Possibly File Lawsuits Against Individuals Involved in Mueller Probe
The 45th president said at the time that Steele "should be extradited, tried, and thrown into jail" over his dossier which POTUS claimed was compiled at the behest of and paid for by his 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.

In April 2019, then-US Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced that his probe found insufficient evidence of Russia-Trump collusion, which had been repeatedly slammed by the former US president as "a witch hunt".

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