Mueller Reportedly Questioned Former Spy Who Authored the Infamous Trump Dossier

This past summer, special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly met with the former British spy who authored a now infamous dossier detailing President Trump’s connections to Russia.

While the Senate Intelligence Committee has incurred some difficulty questioning to Christopher Steele, an ex-MI6 agent cum private investigator, Mueller’s team had no trouble interviewing him in Europe. CNN first reported the interview between Steele and Mueller’s team after speaking to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The U.S. intelligence community was initially hesitant to publicly corroborate any semblance of Steele’s findings. But, as CNN noted, both the FBI and CIA were attempting to corroborate its validity even after Buzzfeed published the report in January. From CNN:

While the most salacious allegations in the dossier haven’t been verified, its broad assertion that Russia waged a campaign to interfere in the election is now accepted as fact by the US intelligence community. CNN also reported earlier this year that US investigators have corroborated some aspects of the dossier, specifically that some of the communications among foreign nationals mentioned in the memos did actually take place.

So while the alleged pee tape hasn’t been confirmed (yet), both agencies seem to believe the gist of Steele’s document. It’s worth mentioning that Steele was initially paid by Never Trump Republicans to compile potentially incriminating information linking Trump to the Kremlin during the primary — but after he became the Party’s candidate, Democrats started paying.

Last week, CNN also reported that the Internal Revenue Service handed over records pertaining to Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and former national security advisory Michael Flynn.

As Mueller’s team intensifies its probe, the Senate Intelligence Committee has also broadened its inquiry — despite Steel’s apparent refusal to appear before them. Speaking to reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, Senator Richard Burr, chairman of the committee, said senate investigators had interviewed more than 100 people and reviewed more than 400 pages of transcripts. “It’s safe to say that the inquiry has expanded slightly,” he added.