A newly declassified report shows that the FBI relied heavily on media reporting in its investigation into alleged connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Catherine Herridge, a Senior Investigative Correspondent for CBS News, published on her twitter feed findings from a 94-page report, showing FBI spreadsheets used during their investigation.
“While lightly redacted, the bureau spreadsheet shows the FBI relied heavily on media reporting to back up claims about Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and others. IG Horowitz faulted the FBI over lack of corroboration + evidence of circular reporting,” wrote Herridge.
“IG Horowitz page 5 found dossier author Christopher Steele spoke to the Yahoo news reporter prior to publication of a September 23 article. The FBI spreadsheet cites the SAME article on page 51 as supporting evidence. IG Horowitz also faulted the FBI for using the Yahoo reporting in the
Carter Page FISA, and then not correcting the court record once the connection with Steele was known,” continued Herridge.
Herridge reports that Tim Gill Sr, a former senior FBI intelligence officer, told CBS News that the reliance on media reporting was not standard. “Any effort to corroborate a report should include a variety of intelligence sources, including imagery intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence as well as clandestine intelligence collection platforms for verification.”
SCOOP #Durham: @CBSNews obtains 94-page declassified FBI spreadsheet, widely cited by IG Horowitz, but not public until now. Recently released to Senate investigators, the FBI spreadsheet was part of a broader effort to corroborate the Steele dossier claims. pic.twitter.com/tO46InBSae
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) October 12, 2020
