Thread by @KimStrassel

1) BREAKING, per @CBS_Herridge and extraordinary.
So Christopher Steele's main source for the dossier? He was the subject of a nearly two-year long FBI counter-intel investigation (2009-2011), under suspicion of being a Russian spy and a "threat to national security."

2) Early in Obama admin, subsource "reportedly attempted to recruit two individuals connected to an influential foreign policy advisor" to Obama. Said if they got jobs in the administration and access to classified information, he could help them "make a little extra money."

3) FBI says he had previously contact with the Russian Embassy and Russian intelligence officers. Thanks to @paulsperry_ we know the name of this subsource, and that he for a period at this time at Brookings, Democratic think tank.

4) But here's the real kicker, per these documents out from @LindseyGrahamSC The FBI KNEW about this prior CI investigation into the source in DECEMBER OF 2016. It KNEW it was relying on information from a suspected Russian spy!

5) The same FBI said to be concerned about Russian interference in election, was using information from a suspected Russian spy to probe a presidential campaign. The same FBI claiming Carter Page a Russian agent, was making that case based on info from a suspected Russia agent.

6) Most importantly: It never told the FISA court about this CI investigation. It withheld that information and continued re-upping its applications to surveil Page and the campaign. It vouched for information supplied by a suspected Russian agent.

7) The name of this subsource, and the realization of the FBI's prior suspicions, should have ended the entire probe. Instead the FBI doubled down, hid things from the court, kept going. This again raises urgent need to know who knew what, and when.

8) And people wonder why #Durham is looking into all this?
Also, extra-credit question: Wasn't it Mueller's job to find sources of Russian disinformation? How do you miss the guy potentially feeding it directly to the FBI?

9) Finally, big credit here to AG Bill Barr and @LindseyGrahamSC for their commitment to truth and transparency. Americans deserve to know what happened before they vote.