Source: Breitbart.com.
USA – An email proves disgraced ex-FBI Director James Comey personally approved an FBI effort to have the wild and unsubstantiated āgolden showersā claim about President Trump included in material to be considered for publication in the U.S. Intelligence Communityās official report on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The Comey email, which has not received media attention until now, was revealed inside the Justice Departmentās recently released 476-page Inspector General report on the FBIās Russia collusion investigation.
The IG report further discloses a separate email in which Andrew McCabe, who served under Comey as the FBIās deputy director, specifically wanted dossier author Christopher Steeleās unverified āpeeā charges against Trump to be included in the body of the January 6, 2017 U.S. Intelligence Community report, known as the ICA, assessing alleged Russian interference efforts.
McCabe opposed a CIA compromise to only reference Steeleās controversial dossier in an appendix of the ICA report, with McCabe arguing for it to be included in the body of the report where it would clearly get more attention.
In his email on the subject, McCabe seemed to be speaking on behalf of Comeyās FBI, using the noun āwe.ā
Referencing Steeleās charges, McCabe wrote:
We oppose CIAās current plan to include it as an appendix; there are a number of reasons why I feel strongly that it needs to appear in some fashion in the main body of the reporting, and I would welcome the chance to talk to you about it tomorrow.
Comey himself personally approved of the inclusion of Steeleās wild claims in the ICA assessment, an email published in the IG report discloses. The IG report relates that the CIA did not want Steeleās claims to be included at all, downgrading Steeleās charges to āinternet rumor.ā Still, Comey and McCabe pushed for the wild anti-Trump claims to be part of the ICA assessment, which was ultimately made public.
The ICA was a joint effort of the FBI, NSA and CIA with oversight from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which published the report.
Comey, former CIA Director turned anti-Trump activist John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence and Trump critic James Clapper have been the subjects of a dispute over which top Obama administration officials advocated for the infamous Steele dossier to be utilized as evidence in the ICA report.
Now the IG report cites emails from Comey and McCabe as well as testimony from members of the intelligence community showing it was Comey and McCabe who lobbied for Steeleās wild sexual claims about Trump to be part of the official ICA probe.
Steeleās dossier infamously claimed that while Trump was staying in the presidential suite at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Moscow in 2013, the real estate mogul hired āa number of prostitutes to perform a āgolden showersā (urination) show in front of him.ā The dossier claimed Trump wanted to ādefileā the bed because he learned that President Obama had used the same suite during a trip to Russia.
Steele was hired to produce his material for Fusion GPS, which was paid for its anti-Trump work by Trumpās primary political opponents, namely Hillary Clintonās 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) via the Perkins Coie law firm.
A December 16, 2016 email from the FBIās Intel Section Chief made clear McCabe was arguing for the wild sexual claims to be included in the official ICA report.
Referring to McCabe as ādeputy director,ā the section chief wrote that McCabe wanted ādetails like the potential compromising material, etc.ā to be included in the FBIās official submission to the intelligence community for material to be considered for the ICA report.
That same day, the FBIās Intel Section Chief sent an email to other FBI officials including controversial FBI employee Peter Strzok. The missive contained a draft of the FBIās official submission to the ICA effort that included Steeleās unsubstantiated claims.
The next day, Comey completed his review of the FBIās official submission and personally approved of Steeleās dossier reports to be included in the ICA assessment.
In an email to Strzok, McCabe and others, Comey described a phone call he had with then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, writing that he told Clapper to include the Steele reports.
āLooks okay to me,ā Comey wrote, approving of the FBI submission that encompassed Steeleās dossier charges.
Comeyās email continued:
FYI: During a secure call last night on this general topic, I informed the DNI that we would be contributing the [Steele] reporting (although I didnāt use that name) to the IC [Intelligence Community] effort. I stressed that we were proceeding cautiously to understand and attempt to verify the reporting as best we can, but we thought it important to bring it forward to the IC effort.
Comey went on to document that he vouched for Steeleās so-called sources while admitting that he didnāt tell Clapper about FBI efforts to verify the claims. The FBI at the time could not verify the charges.
Comey wrote:
I told him the source of the material, which included salacious material about the President-Elect, was a former [REDACTED] who appears to be a credible person with a source and sub-source network in position to report on such things, but we could not vouch for the material. (I said nothing further about the source or our efforts to verify).
Comey may have even more egg on his face for vouching for Steeleās alleged sources following the publication of the IG report, which relates that Comeyās own FBI found serious sourcing problems and glaring issues with the way Steele reported the āpeeā claim.
Meanwhile, Comeyās FBI fought back against attempts by the CIA to remove Steeleās claims from the ICA report.
The IG report reveals the CIA expressed concern about using the Steele election reporting in the ICA assessment, with the CIA viewing Steeleās claims to be no more than āinternet rumor.ā
States the IG report:
The Supervisory Intel Analyst explained that the CIA believed that the Steele election reporting was not completely vetted and did not merit inclusion in the body of the report. The Intel Section Chief stated that the CIA viewed it as āinternet rumor.ā
Thatās when McCabe stepped in and strongly pushed for Steeleās claims to be including in the body of the ICA report and not relegated to the appendix as part of a comprise with the CIA.
āMcCabeās view did not prevail,ā the IG report relates. āThe final ICA report was completed early in the first week of January 2017, and included a short summary and assessment of the Steele election reporting, which was incorporated in an appendix.ā
Comey, Brennan and Clapper were previously the subjects of a dispute about which senior official advocated for Steeleās dossier to be included in the ICA report.
The fiasco was kicked into high gear after Fox News cited āsources familiar with the recordsā pointing to an email chain from late-2016 showing Comey allegedly telling FBI employees that it was Brennan who insisted that the anti-Trump dossier be included in a January 6, 2017 U.S. Intelligence Community report, known as the ICA, assessing Russian interference efforts.
A former CIA official, clearly defending Brennan, shot back at the assertion, instead claiming that it was Brennan and Clapper who opposed a purported push by Comey to include the dossier charges in the ICA.
The IG report shows it was indeed Comey who pushed for the dossierās inclusion in the ICA material.
Aaron Klein is Breitbartās Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, āAaron Klein Investigative Radio.ā Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
Joshua Klein contributed research to this article.

