Christopher Steele, who created controversial Trump Russia dossier, speaks out
In a clip from an ABC News documentary released Monday, Steele said he decided to sit down for an interview now because he wanted to “set the record straight” about his role in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“Most of the world first heard your name about five years ago, but you stayed silent up until now. Why speak out now?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.
“I think the first and most important (reason) is that the problems we identified back in 2016 haven’t gone away, and arguably have actually got worse, and I thought it was important to come and set the record straight,” Steele said.
Mueller’s report also concluded that another allegation Steele made — that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen traveled to Prague in 2016 to meet with Russian officials — was untrue.
Steele reinforced his belief that most of the claims made in the dossier are accurate.
“I stand by the work we did, the sources that we had, and the professionalism which we applied to it,” Steele said.
Mueller, Steele argued, “was working to beyond-reasonable-doubt-level of evidence in criminal cases and prosecutions. And in much intelligence work, you never get to the point where you’re 99% certain of the evidence to secure a conviction.”
In the interview, Steele insisted the information from his sources was credible, despite the FBI being unable to verify the salacious details in the dossier. Steele said that confidential sources who are uncovered may seek to “downplay and underestimate” what they’ve previously said, suggesting that’s what happened with his source
Asked if something had happened to any of his sources after the dossier was disclosed, Steele said, “Yes, but I can’t really go there, I’m afraid.”
Stephanopoulos asked if the source was still alive.
“Yes,” Steele responded.
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