Thread by @themarketswork

1) My latest @EpochTimes FBI Documents Detailing Bruce Ohr Conversations Shed New Light on Spygate Scandal

Documents highlight state department role, conflicting statements, and information excluded from FISA application

Note: This is a long one.
theepochtimes.com/bruce-ohr-302s…

2) Interactions between Ohr—who at the time was associate deputy attorney general—and Steele were so frequent that Ohr was assigned an FBI handler, agent Joe Pientka, who summarized the conversations in FBI FD-302 forms recently released by @JudicialWatch.
judicialwatch.org/wp-content/upl…

3) The 302s run from Nov. 22, 2016 to May 15, 2017.

Although the 302s end in May 2017, Ohr later testified that he maintained contact with Steele and relayed those conversations to the FBI into November 2017.

4) On Nov. 21, 2016, Ohr was introduced to his handler, Pientka, during a meeting with FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

The next day Ohr met alone with Pientka and the sequence of 302’s stemming from these ongoing interviews began.

5) In that first interview, Ohr told Pientka that Simpson had been hired by “a lawyer who does opposition research.”

Perkins Coie had hired Fusion.

Of particular note is the fact that Simpson’s name isn’t redacted—it appears 42 times in the Ohr 302s.

6) Ohr told Pientka that he knew, “[Redacted] reporting on Trump’s ties to Russia were going to the Clinton Campaign, Jon Winer at the US State Department and the FBI.”

Ohr also told Pientka that “Simpson and others were talking to Victoria Nuland at the U.S. State Department.”

7) Ohr also told Pientka that “Simpson was passing [Redacted] information to many individuals or entities and at times [Redacted] would attend meetings with Simpson.”

The redacted name in this instance is almost certainly Steele.

8) Ohr appears to have told Pientka about a meeting between Steele and Michael Isikoff, which resulted in a Sept. 23, 2016, article on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page

Hillary for America released a statement touting Isikoff’s “bombshell report” with the full article attached

9) Isikoff’s article, which came from information provided by Steele, would be used by the FBI in the Page FISA application.

The FBI would cite Isikoff’s in each of the 3 subsequent FISA renewals, despite knowing since at least Nov. 22, 2016, that Steele had been the source.

10) In a subsequent interview on Dec. 12, Ohr told the FBI that “Simpson asked [Redacted] to speak to the Mother Jones reporter as it was Simpson’s Hail Mary attempt.”

Note Wording: "Simpson's Hail Mary Attempt"

11) Ohr said that Steele "spoke with a staff member of Senator John McCain’s office sometime prior to October 2016."

This would indicate that Steele was communicating directly with the McCain camp at least a month prior to what was previously known.

12) Kramer said he was approached about the Steele dossier on Nov. 19, 2016, by Sir Andrew Wood.

Kramer stated in his deposition that he had never seen Steele prior to his Nov. 28 meeting and didn’t even know of him prior to the No. 19 briefing by Wood.

13) Steele also told Ohr that he had no discussions with anyone regarding the dossier past October 2016.

This is demonstrably untrue as Kramer was personally shown a copy of the dossier during his Nov. 28, 2016, meeting with Steele.

14) Steele was also providing his dossier to members of UK intelligence - allegedly after the 2016 presidential election had taken place.
theepochtimes.com/uk-intel-agenc…

15) The Telegraph also reported that Steele met with Charles Farr, the former chairman of Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), on two separate occasions after the election.

The two men, both former MI6 agents, had known each other for decades.

16) Ohr also told Pientka of Steele’s bias against Trump during his first interview in November 2016.

This strong bias on Steele’s part wasn’t relayed to the FISA court in the 3 subsequent renewals.

17) Ohr testified before the House Oversight and Judiciary committees that he maintained contact with Steele beyond the May 15, 2017 date of the final 302—but this was either not documented in FBI 302s or the 302s weren’t provided to congressional investigators:

18) Ohr passed along a number of allegations made in the Steele dossier to the FBI—many of which were later shown to be false or incorrect.

It appears that Ohr may also have been getting incorrect information directly from Simpson as well.

Examples in article.

19) Ohr told Pientka that his wife had worked for Fusion GPS and he provided the FBI with a thumb drive containing “the totality of the work Nellie Ohr conducted for Simpson.”

Ohr provided the FBI with a dossier titled “Manafort Chronology” that had been compiled by Nellie Ohr.

20) That Nellie had compiled her own dossier on Manafort leads to further questions regarding her work for Simpson, and what if any of that work was directly used by Steele.

It remains unclear whether - and how much of - Nellie’s work was used in Steele’s dossier.

21) Steele provided Fusion GPS with something that Simpson’s firm was lacking: access to individuals within the FBI and the State Department.

Those contacts could be traced back to at least 2010, when Steele had provided assistance in the FBI’s investigation into FIFA.

22) Nellie had emailed Bruce dozens of times during her employment with Fusion GPS about Russia-related topics between October 2015 and September 2016.

Nellie also routinely included several other DOJ officials in these communications.
theepochtimes.com/former-cia-con…

23) On May 30, 2016, Nellie sent an email to Bruce and 3 other DOJ officials, with a subject line that read, “Reported Trove of Documents on Ukrainian Party of Regions’ ‘Black Cashbox.’”
theepochtimes.com/ties-to-ukrain…

24) This email would prove prophetic and alerted officials within the DOJ of a discovery that would have far-reaching implications for Manafort.

Manafort would be famously implicated in the Black Box ledger scandal two months later, which would lead to his resignation.

25) Nellie Ohr had previously worked for the CIA as an independent contractor for at least two years - probably longer.

She was hired as a researcher by Fusion GPS in October 2015.
theepochtimes.com/nellie-ohr-tes…

26) During a meeting on Dec. 10, 2016, Ohr met with Simpson, who gave him a memory stick that Ohr believed contained the Steele dossier.

Ohr passed the memory stick to Pientka two days later.

A digital copy of the dossier was now likely in the FBI’s possession.

27) In a Dec. 12 interview, Ohr told the FBI of claims made by Simpson regarding a Russian senator and mobster named Torshin & his alleged ties to the NRA.

The FBI may have taken Simpson's claims seriously as it appears this info may have led to the investigation of the NRA.

28) In a Feb. 6, 2017, interview, Ohr told the FBI that Kathleen Kavalec, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US State Department "did speak with Steele several times prior to the 2016 US Presidential election.”

29) Steele met with Kavalec just 10 days prior to the FBI obtaining a FISA warrant on Carter Page & the meeting was likely brokered by Jonathan Winer.

It wasn’t previously known w/certainty there were additional meetings beyond the Oct. 11 meeting between Steele and Kavalec.

30) There was a several-month hiatus in contact between Steele, Ohr, and the FBI.
Ohr doesn’t meet with the FBI again until May 8, 2017.

Interestingly, the May interviews appear to have been conducted by new FBI agents, including a higher ranking supervising special agent (SSA).

31) The call from Steele to Ohr that initiated the May 8 FBI interview took place on May 3, 2017, and appears to have been prompted by Comey’s same-day testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee:

32) From here there are some intriguing comments or statements from Ohr that lead to more questions than actual answers:

“[Redacted] and had been on the staff of the [Redacted] At the time of the interview, [Redacted] was working with the [Redacted].”

33) Although not known with any certainty, this comment may relate to Dan Jones, the founder of Penn Quarter Group.
theepochtimes.com/did-former-fei…

34) Ohr told the FBI that “JONATHAN WINER was bringing over a letter separately (NFI).”

What makes this comment notable is the fact that Winer had left the State Department four months prior.

35) During a May 12th interview, a notation in the 302 states “[Redacted] requested that OHR ask STEELE if he would be willing to have a conversation with FBI agents in the UK. OHR agreed to pass along the message.”

36) We know that in the days following the firing of Comey by President Trump, the FBI, under McCabe, sought to re-engage with Steele.

Ohr had previously disclosed this in his Aug. 28, 2018, testimony.
theepochtimes.com/mccabes-fbi-tr…

37) However, on May 17, 2017, DAG Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel.

In doing so, Rosenstein took the Trump–Russia investigation out of McCabe’s control, and the FBI re-engagement attempts with Steele effectively came to an end.

38) Steele would later confirm this in a text to Ohr on Nov. 18, 2017:

“I am presuming you’ve heard nothing back from your SC colleagues on the issue you kindly put to them for me. We have heard nothing from them either. To say this is disappointing would be an understatement.”

39) Although the 302s end with Ohr’s May 15, 2017, interview, we know from Ohr’s testimony that his meetings with both Steele and the FBI continued into November 2017.

Apologies for lengthy thread.

/End