FBI: Primary sub-source of Trump-Russia dossier was suspected of being a Russian agent

A bombshell declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation summary released by Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday night indicates that the Steele dossier — the foundation of the years-long Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory — was sourced primarily by an individual who had previously been under investigation by the FBI for alleged Russian conspiracies of his own. 

Graham on Thursday published an FBI summary along with a letter from Attorney General William Barr, both of which "indicate Christopher Steele's Primary Sub-source was a likely Russian agent and had previously been the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation," according to a release from the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Graham is chairman.

Among the revelations in the FBI summary is a footnote which stipulates that the "Primary Sub-source" of Steele's dossier "was the subject of an FBI counterintelligence investigation from 2009 to 2011 that assessed his/her documented contacts with suspected Russian intelligence officers."

The memo from federal investigators stipulates that, as early as 2006, the sub-source was in contact with Russian intelligence officials along with representatives of the Russian embassy.

The summary also claims that the Crossfire Hurricane team — the original investigators of the Russia collusion conspiracy theory — knew of the FBI's investigation into the sub-source by December of 2016. The Crossfire Hurricane investigation would continue for another six months until it was subsumed by Robert Mueller's special counsel in May of 2017.

"In light of this newly declassified information," Graham said, "I will be sending the FISA Court the information provided to inform them how wide and deep the effort to conceal exculpatory information regarding the Carter Page warrant application was in 2016 and 2017."

"A small group of individuals in the Department of Justice and FBI should be held accountable for this fraud against the court," he continued, adding that he did "not believe they represent the overwhelming majority of patriotic men and women who work at the Department of Justice and FBI."