![\"\"](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/james-comey-4-640x480.png\")
<\/a>Mark Wilson\/Getty<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n
by Aaron Klein
\nBreitbart.com<\/p>\n
NEW YORK \u2014 In testimony, former FBI Director James Comey contradicted the claim made during previous testimony by former CIA Director John Brennan that the anti-Trump dossier was \u201cnot in any way used as the basis for the intelligence community\u2019s assessment\u201d that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.<\/h3>\n
The dossier, authored by former British spy Christopher Steele, was produced by the controversial Fusion GPS firm. Fusion was paid for the dossier work by Trump\u2019s main political opponents, namely Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) via the Perkins Coie law firm.<\/p>\n
A January 6 U.S. Intelligence Community (IC)\u00a0report\u00a0<\/u><\/a>released by Comey\u2019s FBI, Brennan\u2019s CIA and the NSA under Mike Rogers assessed that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. It also claimed that Russia worked to aid Trump\u2019s electoral victory.<\/p>\n In testimony before the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees last week, Comey stated that material from the Steele dossier was indeed utilized in the IC report. Internally, the FBI referred to the dossier as \u201ccrown material.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo do you recall whether any quote, crown material or dossier material was included in the IC assessment?\u201d Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) asked Comey.<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Comey replied. \u201cI\u2019m going to be careful here because I\u2019m talking about a document that\u2019s still classified. The unclassified thing we talked about earlier today, the first paragraph you can see of exhibit A, is reflective of the fact that at least some of the material that Steele had collected was in the big thing called the intelligence community assessment in an annex called annex A.\u201d<\/p>\n Annex A in the report was titled, \u201cRussia\u2014Kremlin\u2019s TV Seeks To Influence Politics, Fuel Discontent in US.\u201d<\/p>\n The annex, like the rest of the report, contains the following disclaimer:<\/p>\n This report is a declassified version of a highly classified assessment; its conclusions are identical to those in the highly classified assessment but this version does not include the full supporting information on key elements of the influence campaign.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Comey went on to describe a conversation that he said he had with Brennan about how to include the dossier material in the IC assessment:<\/p>\n Gowdy: Do you recall the specific conversation or back and forth with then-Director Brennan on whether or not the material should be included in the IC assessment?<\/p>\n Comey. Yes. I remember conversation \u2014 let me think about it for a second. I remember there was conversation about what form its presentation should take in the overarching document; that is, should it be in an annex; should it be in the body; that the intelligence community broadly found its source credible and that it was corroborative of the central thesis of the intelligence community assessment, and the discussion was should we put it in the body or put it in an attachment.<\/p>\n I\u2019m hesitating because I don\u2019t remember whether I had that conversation \u2014 I had that conversation with John Brennan, but I remember that there was conversation about how it should be treated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Comey\u2019s descriptions are at direct odds with a statement Brennan made during May 2017 testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in which Brennan claimed the dossier was \u201cnot in any way used as the basis for the intelligence community\u2019s assessment\u201d on alleged Russian interference. Brennan\u00a0repeated<\/a>\u00a0that claim during numerous news media interviews.<\/p>\n Comey is not the only former top official involved in the IC report to say that the dossier played a role in the report\u2019s conclusions.<\/p>\n As RealClearPolitics.com\u00a0documents<\/u><\/a>, former NSA Director Rogers wrote in a classified letter that the dossier played a role in the IC\u2019s assessment and a dossier summary was included in an initial draft appendix:<\/p>\n In a March 5, 2018, letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, Adm. Rogers informed the committee that a two-page summary of the dossier \u2014 described as \u201cthe Christopher Steele information\u201d \u2014 was \u201cadded\u201d as an \u201cappendix to the ICA draft,\u201d and that consideration of that appendix was \u201cpart of the overall ICA review\/approval process.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n‘All Lies!’ Trump Lashes Out At ‘Leakin’ James Comey’ Over Testimony<\/a><\/h3>\n