Newly declassified footnotes prove that the FBI knew that the documents used to obtain FISA warrants on the Trump campaign were bogus. The footnotes also show that Russian intelligence knew Christopher Steele was investigating Trump and used this information for their disinformation campaign.

According to Town Hall:

Thanks to newly declassified and released footnotes from Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, it is confirmed the FBI knew the Steele dossier — a false document full of Russian propaganda that was cobbled together by Fusion GPS on behalf of the Clinton campaign — was used by agents to pursue FISA warrants even though they knew it was unreliable. 

“Despite multiple reports in 2017 warning that claims in an anti-Trump dossier were ‘false’ and ‘part of a Russian disinformation campaign,’ the FBI continued to rely on the Democrat-funded opposition research to spy on a Trump campaign aide. The once-classified details contained in footnotes of the Justice Department Inspector General’s postmortem of the FBI’s flawed spying operation were unmasked at the repeated urging of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)” Grassley released Wednesday night. 

“Earlier this month, the Justice Department provided the senators with a partially-declassified version of three footnotes following their January request, but key information detailing exactly when the FBI became aware of exculpatory intelligence reports remained redacted. The new material, provided with the assistance of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, sheds new light on the remaining redactions as well as additional information that was previously classified in the IG report,” the release continues. 

Details in the footnotes reveal the FBI knew the dossier wasn’t credible before applying for FISA renewals on at least one Trump campaign official. This information was also known before the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Adding insult to injury, Russian intelligence officials were aware of Steele’s investigation into the Trump campaign in July 2016. This information helped Russia with disinformation campaigns against the United States.  

Declassified footnotes DNI by Katie Pavlich on Scribd

The FBI had a counterintelligence case open on one of their key sources but failed to tell the FISA court. The FBI also relied on evidence they knew was tainted by Russian disinformation to spy on an American citizen.