So why does anyone care if the Steele report was used in the FISA application?

[LAS14]

As a federal judge (possibly retired) on TV (MSNBC or CNN) said last night. The motives of a source of information are irrelevant. Warrants are applied for all the time on the basis of information from hostile people, cheated on wives, betrayed criminal conspirators, etc., etc. What matters is whether there is reason to think the information is good.

If this is true (and on the face of it it seems to be), why isn't that reported and we're all done with it?

[KPN]

1. Exactly. A no brainer really --

unless one happens to be a Putin supporter.

[Freethinker65]

2. No one does. But Trump needed something to try to discredit the FBI.

This was the best the WH could come up with so far.

[CousinIT]

3. No. It's credible evidence and the FISA court was advised it was oppo research

I see no problem.

[marylandblue]

4. Because average people and reporters aren't federal judges

but think they know more that a federal judge.

[LAS14]

5. Reporters ought to know at least this much. And I haven't heard...

... Dems in congress or specialist talking heads bring this up except this one judge. Instead they are at pains to point out that the last para in "the memo" invalidates their claim that it was THE source. But, hey, so what if it was THE source?

[marylandblue]

10. There's a reason I get my news from DU and not cable news

You guys watch for the good stuff so I don't have to see the rest. Thanks DU!

[dawg day]

7. Most average people despise Trump

It's just that about 30% of average Americans turn out to be rabid zombies.

[marylandblue]

12. There's another whole group who just don't give a shit

They just want their tax cuts.

[spanone]

6. ask jake tapper why he was grilling Dick Durbin as to why the democrats didn't tell the FISA court..

that democrats had paid for the dossier......irrelevant

and mr tapper, according to Mr. Schiff the FISA court knew it.

[LAS14]

8. Exactly. It's the Jake Tappers and the Dems on TV that are frustrating me.

[spanone]

9. Adam Schiff did bring this up....

Washington (CNN)A central pillar of Rep. Devin Nunes' memo alleging wrongdoing by the FBI -- that the government did not disclose the political bias of a source when seeking a surveillance warrant -- is unfounded, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff told reporters Friday.

The memo alleges that ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who authored an opposition research dossier on Trump that was used to obtain a FISA warrant on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, harbored anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations, including that the dossier was funded in part by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The memo claims those motivations were not included in the FISA application even though senior Justice Department officials knew about Steele's alleged anti-Trump bias.

President Donald Trump repeated the claim in a pair of tweets Saturday night that quoted and paraphrased a Wall Street Journal editorial.

"'The four page memo released Friday reports the disturbing fact about how the FBI and FISA appear to have been used to influence the 2016 election and its aftermath....,'" Trump wrote. "'The FBI failed to inform the FISA court that the Clinton campaign had funded the dossier....the FBI became.......a tool of anti-Trump political actors. This is unacceptable in a democracy and ought to alarm anyone who wants the FBI to be a nonpartisan enforcer of the law....The FBI wasn't straight with Congress, as it hid most of these facts from investigators.'"

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/03/politics/memo-dossier-christopher-steele-carter-page/index.html

[budkin]

11. Because it makes Trump look bad

That's it.

[ooky]

13. Because approximately half the country has been brainwashed by Fox News?

I just heard a reference to a poll that 47% of people believe the FBI is compromised because of this “memo”. My guess is that probably 95% of the people polled who said this haven’t bothered to read the memo, whereas I would venture that probably 95% of the people who frequent this website couldn’t wait to read it for themselves.

[TheDebbieDee]

14. Russians-republicans are trying to make the case that because the Steele dossier

was paid for by the Clinton Administration (they almost never mention that the dossier was originally purchased for/by a republican or that the Steele dossier is ACCURATE), any FISA warrant issued on its basis constitutes a political witch hunt by the FBI under the Obama Administration...

It's all grasping at straws on the part of the Russians/republicans but to their low-info supporters, FISA warrants issued on the basis of the dossier are the smoking gun that proves Obama spied on Trump during the election campaign...

[Cracklin Charlie]

15. Because distraction works.

Republicans are good at some things.

The sucky things.

[unblock]

16. Same reason they still claim tax cuts pay for themselves

The right wing owns the microphone so idiotic narratives that serve the right wing must go unchallenged.

[wishstar]

17. That's all they could find in probe that involved any connection with Dems and Clinton campaign

Nothing else in the Russian investigation involves Democrats because John McCain, Peter Strzok (who voted for Kasich in Repub primary), James Comey, Rosenstein, Mueller, McCabe (who voted in Repub primary and didn't vote in general) and the other officials and investigators were Republicans and Bush/Trump appointees (except a few of Mueller's most recent prosecutors) Glenn Simpson of Fusion has investigated people of all political stripes and Christopher Steele is a British citizen with no involvement in US politics.

So once they discovered that Fusion GPS 's hiring of Steele was paid by a Clinton Campaign lawyer, that gave them a way to claim the entire probe is merely a partisan Democratic plot that should be discredited.

Democrats didn't reach out to hire Fusion GPS, but after Fusion had conducted several months of research into Trump (before Steele was hired and before Trump won primary) Fusion's Glenn Simpson reached out to contact someone connected to Hillary's campaign to solicit funding for the investigation of Trump to be continued.

[Downtown Hound]

18. It's called diversion based on desperation

When you're facing possibly spending the rest of your life in the slammer and going down in history as the most corrupt U.S. President ever, you'll pretty much try anything to see if it will stick. The fact that this was the best they could come up with tells me they are in VERY DEEP TROUBLE.

[lindysalsagal]

19. 45 isn't logical: He just needs to muddy the waters enough to let his base hold the fort.

[LAS14]

20. But one would hope that CNN and MSNBC reports could be a little bit logical.

[lindysalsagal]

21. Why? When ratings are the profitable part.

[DonViejo]

27. I've seen it reported on MSNBC...

Friday night; Ari, Tweety, Rachel and Lawrence all had guests on discussing it.

[appleannie1943]

23. Another thing overlooked. It was an extension of a warrant. They would not have been able to

get an extension if they had not been getting information from the investigation that was already in progress and had been since before the Trump campaign even started.

[D23MIURG23]

25. Because they are dishonest.

The Republicans look for any excuse to dismiss unhelpful information. Their reason might not make sense. They might know it doesn't make sense. But they will still use it if they think it will work to their political ends.

[Kablooie]

26. The Trump spin is its all invented

No truth at all

Yep