Trump Falsely Claims Russia Investigation Started Because of Steele Dossier

“...top of the FBI. Brennan started this entire debacle about President Trump. We now know that Brennan had detailed knowledge of the (phony) Dossier...he knows about the Dossier, he denies knowledge of the Dossier, he briefs the Gang of 8 on the Hill about the Dossier, which...”

“...they then used to start an investigation about Trump. It is that simple. This guy is the genesis of this whole Debacle. This was a Political hit job, this was not an Intelligence Investigation. Brennan has disgraced himself, he’s worried about staying out of Jail.”

False.

Quoting a conservative commentator who appeared on “Fox and Friends” on Monday morning, President Donald Trump claimed that the FBI began investigating links between his presidential campaign and Russian election meddling based on a dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy.

As The New York Times reported in December, the investigation began in July 2016 — after George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, told an Australian diplomat that Russia had political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Australian officials then alerted their U.S. counterparts.

The information provided by Steele did not reach the FBI officials charged with investigating Trump’s campaign until mid-September, The Times reported last week.

Republicans who hold the majority vote on the House Intelligence Committee have also stated that the investigation was opened because of information linked to Papadopoulos — not Steele’s dossier.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an enterprise counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign after receiving information related to Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos,” the final report from Republicans on the House committee concluded.

Trump said he was “honored” by that report, which was released last month, and saw it as absolution.

Additionally, a memo released in February, written by Republican staff members for the committee, stated that “the Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok.”

That same memo accused investigators of abusing their powers. Trump ordered its declassification over the objections of the FBI.

Sources: Twitter, House Intelligence Committee, The New York Times