Thread by @ClimateAudit

remember Mueller's famous "not in my purview" answers re Steele dossier (among others)?

Extraordinary to re-read transcripts of stonewalling in 2017 and 2018 where DOJ/RBI lawyers prevented witness questioning on Steele dossier because it was under investigation by Mueller

2/ here's one example (Many others.) Trisha Anderson (FBI deputy general counsel) attended "meetings with McCabe" about Steele reports and what FBI had "learned about facts
that might bear on his credibility as a source".

3/ one of the three FBI lawyers from Office of General Counsel stopped Anderson from answering, first to consult, then to refuse because "questions pertain to matters that are being looked at by the special counsel". (Side question: Why cloak senior FBI lawyers in redactions?)

4/ but when Matt Gaetz asked Mueller about credibility of Steele dossier, Mueller famously declined to answer on grounds that "without regard to Steele, that's beyond ny purview".

5/ Mueller continued in his answer to Gaetz saying that "this is under investigation" and "consequently it's not within my purview" and the "DOJ and FBI should be responsive to questions on this particular issue"

6/ Mueller refused to answer whether Mueller investigation had even interviewed Steele.

7/ on this issue, it turned out FBI had interviewed Steele in Sept 2017, but, unlike every other important Mueller investigation interview, NO Special Counsel lawyers attended Steele interview. A 302 for Steele 2017 interview was in Mueller FOIA archive, but was TOTALLY redacted

8/ in early 2021, in closing hours of transition, a partly redacted 302 was finally released. (A very inept and uninformative interview, but that's a different story.)

9/ but the moral of this thread is to illustrate a classic form of bureaucratic obfuscation: FBI witnesses ordered not to answer questions on McCabe's meetings dealing with Steele credibility on grounds that it was under Mueller jurisdiction;

10/ but when Mueller was questioned a year later, Mueller refused to answer because it was being investigated by DOJ and under DOJ investigation.

11/ by then House was under Democrat control and they immediately moved on to impeachment on a different issue; then COVID and the election. Nobody ever answered the questions. Absolute classic bureaucratic obfuscation.