Look who 'coordinated' with each other on dossier

Official portrait of Barack Obama unveiled in February 2018

There have been several indicators showing that the beginnings of the "Russian collusion" investigation into the 2016 Donald Trump campaign came from all over the Barack Obama administration.

Such as the report that confirmed knowledge of the dossier reached into the highest levels of the Obama Justice Department.

That's despite what appears to be a general move on the part of media to leave Obama out of the controversy entirely.

But Washington watchdog Judicial Watch, along with the Daily Caller News Foundation, on Wednesday revealed more documents that show members of Obama's State Department were "coordinating" with Democrats in Congress and others on the dossier, created by British ex-spy Christopher Steele.

The pages of documentation to which they obtained access through a Freedom of Information Act case showed former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Special Coordinator for Libya Jonathan Winer worked with then-House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's, D-Md., national security advisor, Daniel Silverberg on Russia dossier.

"Steele is a former British spy and author of the anti-Trump dossier used to justify a series of FISA spy warrants targeting Carter Page. Winer is a former Obama State Department deputy assistant secretary who was implicated in working with Steele and Clinton associate Sidney Blumenthal to circulate the anti-Trump dossier," the report said.

The players include Fusion GPS, which employed Steele with funds from Clinton's campaign, and others.

"In an email exchange on September 26, 2016, Winer emails Nuland asking for '15 minutes of your time today if possible,' to discuss a 'Russia related issue' from his 'old O [Orbis Business Intelligence] friend.' Orbis was co-founded and run by Russia dossier author Christopher Steele. Nuland's assistant suggests a secure call for the discussion and Winer asks his aide to postpone a meeting he was to have with the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) to accommodate," Judicial Watch reported.

Then there was an exchange beginning in November 2016. "Hoyer top-aide Silverberg emails a 'thank you' to Nuland, calling her a 'warrior on these issues' and stating that he looks forward to pursuing 'some of the things we discussed yesterday, albeit on the system integrity side.' Nuland forwards this email to Winer who adds that he wants to talk about 'some new info,'" the report said.

On one point, Nuland recommended that there were "some legal ideas that may be of interest to you and Cong. Hoyer."

"In February 2018, Winer wrote an op-ed claiming anti-Trump dossier author Christopher Steele and Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal approached him with separate dossiers. Winer wrote: 'In the summer of 2016, Steele told me that he had learned of disturbing information regarding possible ties between Donald Trump, his campaign and senior Russian officials.' Also, 'While talking about that hacking, Blumenthal and I discussed Steele's reports. He showed me notes gathered by a journalist I did not know…,'" the report said.

"Every day of digging reveals more and more political collaboration on this hit job, and at the highest levels. While so much of the media is content to chase Russian conspiracies, The Daily Caller News Foundation and the fantastic lawyers at Judicial Watch are going to keep doing the hard work of holding power accountable," said Christopher Bedford, editor in chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

"These documents further confirm the Obama State Department was obviously a way station for Steele's smear dossier and other anti-Trump activism," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Judicial Watch has been very active in pursuing information about the scheme, apparently launched by operatives in the Obama administration, to falsely portray the Trump campaign as having coordinated with Russia.

Their scheme included the use of the fake Steele dossier of claims about Trump as evidence in a federal court to obtain permission to have the federal government spy on the political campaign.