Is the Christopher Steele dossier fake news?

[spanone]

(CNN)Donald Trump has called the Christopher Steele dossier "fake news" and "phony stuff," but is it?

The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, sent a trusted staff member to London to obtain a copy and deliver it to the FBI for investigation, according to the UK newspaper The Independent.

The US intelligence community has made no determination as of yet on the contents, but has deemed the documents sufficiently credible to warrant further investigation and included a summary of the dossier in briefing materials for both President Obama and President-elect Trump. It is worth noting that these leaders are all career professionals, including two non-political appointees, FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers, who have zero incentive to pick a fight with their future boss.

The author, former British intelligence Russia expert Chris Steele, is a highly regarded and experienced professional known for his integrity and professionalism; not the kind of guy to invent stuff out of thin air. The Independent reported that Steele continued his reporting even after the election because he recognized how serious these charges were. He felt so threatened when the Wall Street Journal and other media released his name and the dossier that he vanished out of sight -- not something you need to do if it is not real intelligence with real sources.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/16/opinions/is-it-fake-news-dowling/index.html#

[NewJeffCT]

1. If Trump calls it fake news

it is 99% certain that it's real.

[MistakenLamb]

2. maybe the pee stuff is or isnt real

but the fact that Trump had influence from Russia/Putin is very clear considering the Russian talking points and stance on Ukraine in the GOP platform and the past work of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone having contact with Wikileaks

[panader0]

3. Out intelligence agencies included it in their briefing

with the caveat that it had not been substantiated by them. But just to be
included means they (intelligence) thought it had merit.

[dhol82]

4. At first I thought it was just delicious fake news

Now, not so much. Too many other sources coming out with intel.
If the Israelis told the CIA that there was reason to think that Russia had blackmail material on Trump then.......I am swayed.

[Generator]

5. No and you headline is inflamattory

Unless you believe it's fake news-why put that in the headline?

[spanone]

9. that's the headline from the article....that's why.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. "Fake News" refers to easily debunkable bullshit spread over shady websites on social media

While the information in the dossier has not been substantiated, the dossier itself is very real. The news that such a dossier exists therefore is not fake.

Let's not fall into Trump's stupid language traps here.

[spanone]

10. read beyond the headline please

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. I did. I'm not attacking the article.

I'm just frustrated that Trump has muddied the waters so much as to the issue of "fake news" that we're forced to have to clarify.

[Iggo]

7. Do you mean: Is it the truth or is it a lie?

The term "fake news" is becoming overused to the point of uselessness faster than the word "terrorist."

[spanone]

8. not my use....it's from the article.

[Iggo]

12. Even worse.

[spanone]

13. whatever.