The following article by Kelly O’Meara Morales was posted on the Week website January 30, 2018:
The FBI is apparently aware of a second dossier that alleges President Trump is compromised by Russia. The Guardian reported Tuesday that this other dossier, authored by former journalist Cody Shearer, “independently set out many of the same allegations made” in a separate report by former British spy Christopher Steele.
Steele’s dossier has alleged that Russia holds financial leverage over Trump, and includes some salacious but unconfirmed details. Shearer’s document came into the FBI’s possession when Steele met with the agency in October 2016 to express his concerns about Trump’s connections to Russia, The Guardian reports. Steele reportedly told intelligence officials that he did not know how Shearer compiled his information, but he presented the memo to the FBI anyway because Shearer’s findings “corresponded with” some of Steele’s own conclusions.
Shearer, The Guardian notes, “does not have a background in espionage, and his memo was initially viewed with skepticism.” But even with those caveats, the FBI “is pursuing intriguing leads” from his dossier, which “raises the possibility that parts of the Steele dossier … may have been corroborated by Shearer’s research,” The Guardian explains.
Trump has repeatedly referred to Steele’s dossier as “fake.” Various congressional Republicans have alleged that the FBI used that dossier’s contents — only some of which have been verified — to improperly surveil the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
Read more at The Guardian.