"So with respect to the Steele reporting," Auten told the committee, "The actual allegations and the actions described in those reports could not be corroborated." After years of digging, Auten conceded that the only material in the dossier that he could verify was information that was already publicly available, such as names, entities, and positions held by persons mentioned in the document.
A 15-year FBI veteran, Auten assisted the case agents in providing information on the reliability of FBI informant Steele and his sources and reviewing for accuracy their information cited in the body of the applications, as well as the footnotes.
In a declassified internal FBI spreadsheet he compiled in January 2017 to try to corroborate the dossier, Auten cited a September 2016 Yahoo News article as possible corroboration of "Page's alleged meeting with Divyekin" - even though the source of that article was Steele himself.
Former FBI Special Agent Michael Biasello, a 25-year veteran of the FBI who spent 10 years in counterintelligence working closely with intelligence analysts, said Auten should be "Held accountable" for his role in what he described as FBI headquarters' blatant disregard for the diligent process FISA warrants demand.
"All of them must be prosecuted for perjury, fraud and other federal crimes." The Spreadsheet Auten oversaw the early 2017 creation of a 94-page FBI spreadsheet that analyzed the credibility of the Steele dossier, excerpt by excerpt.
Auten learned as early as January 2017 that Steele's primary source, Igor Danchenko, lived in the United States, not Russia; yet Auten and the Crossfire team led the FISA court to believe he was "Russian-based" - and therefore presumably more credible.
According to the IG report, Auten also wasn't concerned about Steele's animus for Trump or that he was paid by Trump's political opponent, calling the fact he was paid by the Clinton's campaign "Immaterial." Under Senate grilling, Auten confirmed the fact-checking lapses highlighted by Horowitz, but remained unrepentant.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
This Russiagate FBI Analyst Couldn’t Verify Anything In The Steele Dossier Yet Said Nothing For Years
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