Christopher Steele just watched in horror as his dirty dossier was shredded by a British court. Justice Mark Warby’s ruling also drove a stake through the heart of the Deep State’s Russia collusion narrative. The former spy was criminally careless with his lies, thumbing his nose at Britain’s Data Protection Act of 1998, so he could tilt the U.S. election toward Hillary Clinton. It cost him about $50,000 in cash and was a death blow to Barack Obama’s administration. The whole crew gets nervous whenever anyone mentions them hanging around together soon.
Christopher Steele had a bad day in court
Former British spy Christopher Steele was only interested in destroying Donald Trump. The Russian bankers caught up in his web of lies and deceit were collateral damage. On Wednesday, Justice Mark Warby of the High Court of England and Wales had more than a few choice things to say about the factual basis of his files. Basically, the Deep State rat never bothered to check a single thing as long as it sounded bad for Trump. The judge tore one folder apart as an example.
Steele was ordered to pay the British equivalent of $22,596 in American money each, to Petr Aven and Mikhail Fridman. He falsely accused them of “making illicit payments in Russia.” His failure to “check the accuracy of information” was criminal – a violation of the Data Protection Act.
That, the Judge declared, “is an allegation of serial criminal wrongdoing, over a prolonged period,” which is a serious thing. “Despite all the other factors I have listed, the steps taken to verify that proposition fell short of what would have been reasonable.” For that kind of an accusation, “the allegation clearly called for closer attention, a more enquiring approach, and more energetic checking.” Steele didn’t check a single thing.
The misleading memorandum
All the fake lies that the Russians bribed Vladimir Putin, which Steele “passed around to various U.S. and British figures, including the FBI” were contained in “Memo 112.” The judge called the entire memo “inaccurate or misleading as a matter of fact.” It was nothing but lies.
The judge ruled that there were six factually inaccurate or unproven claims. The bankers “did not do favors for or receive favors from Putin.” They “did not provide informal foreign policy advice,” meet “with Putin in September 2016,” bribe Putin “when he was Deputy Mayor of St. Petersburg,” or “do Putin’s political bidding.” Memo 112 was just an example. The rest of the Steele dossier is just as bad.
As Judge Warby made sure to point out in his decision, “much of the Steele dossier contained unproven Internet rumor or false information, some possible from Russian intelligence, as the Justice Department inspector general concluded last December.”
Political shenanigans
It was clear to the judge there are serious political shenanigans going on. July 5, 2016, was a busy day for the FBI. The very same day that James Comey announced to America that Hillary Clinton was getting a get out of jail free card for her secret email server, Steele wrote in his notebook details of “of his first interaction with the FBI” which, according to the judge, “made clear that his ultimate client for his research project was Hillary Clinton’s campaign as directed by her campaign law firm Perkins Coie. The FBI did not disclose that information to the court.”
Even the judge in England knows the score. “Nonetheless, the FBI used evidence from Steele’s dossier to support a warrant targeting Trump campaign figures in four occasions, claiming to the court that agents had verified the information.”
Over on this side of the pond, we call it “Obamagate.” Judge Warby just confirmed “the supposition that the Clinton campaign was the ultimate client ‘is in line with the FBI Note of 5 July 2016, which records Mr. Steele telling the FBI that Orbis had been instructed by Mr. [Glenn] Simpson of Fusion and ‘Democratic Party Associates’ but that ‘the ultimate client were (sic) the leadership of the Clinton presidential campaign.’ The FBI Note also indicates that Mr Steele had been told by that stage that Mrs. Clinton herself was aware of what Orbis had been commissioned to do.'”