MEMORANDUM

U)

FROM: TO: RE: Charles E. Grassley, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Lindsey

0

Graham, Chairman, Subcommittee

on

Crime

~ n

Terrorism, U.S . Senate Committee on the Judiciary The Honorable Rod

J.

Rosenstein , Deputy Att orney General, U.S. Department

o f

Justice The Honorable Christopher A. Wray, Direc tor, Federal Bur eau

of

Investigation Referral

o f

Christopher Steele for Potential Violation

of

18

U.S.

C.

§

1001 (U) As y ou know , former British Intelligence Officer Christopher Steele was hired by the private firm Fusion GP S in June 20 16 to gather information a bout links between Russia and [then-presiden tial candidate] Donald Trum p.

1

Pursuant to that business arrangement, Mr. Steele prepared a series

of

documents styled as intelligence reports, some

of

which were later comp iled into a dossier and published

by

BuzzFeed

in January 2017.

2

On the face

o f

the dossier,

it

appears

that

Mr. Steele gathered much

o f

his information from Russian government sources inside Russia.

3

According to the law firm Perkins Coie, Mr. Ste ele's dossier-related efforts were funded through Fusion GPS by

that

law firm on behalf

of

the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton Campaign .

4

(U)

I n

response to reporting by the

Washing ton Post

about the Judiciary Committee began rais ing a series

o f

questions to the FBI and the Justice Department about these matters as

part

o f

the Committee's constitutional oversight respons ibilitie s.

5

(U)

The

FBI

has since provided the Committee access t o classified documents relevant to the

As

explained in greater detail below, when information in those classified documents is evaluated in light

of

sworn statements by Mr. Steele in British litigati on, it appears that either Mr. Steele lied to the

rBI

or the British court, or that the classified documents reviewed

by

the Committee contain materially false statemen ts.

1

(U) Defence,

Gubarev

et

Al

v

Orbis Business Intelligence Limite d

and

Christobpher Steele

Claim No. HQ17D00413, Queen's Bench (Apr.

4

2017), p ara. 9 [Hereinafter Steele Statement 1 ] [Attachm ent A].

2

(U)

Id

at

para.

10;

Ken Bensinger, Miriam Elder, and Mark Schoofs,

These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties

to

Russia

BuzzFEED (Jan. 10, 2017).

3

U)Id

4

(U) Adam Entous, Devlin Barrett and Rosalind

S.

Helderman,

Clinton Campaign

DNC Paid

or

Research that

Led

to Russia Dossier

THE

WASIDNGTON

POST

Oct. 24, 2017).

5

T@P

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