FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
New Layer of Muellergate Scandal: Steele, Ohr, and ‘Our Guy’
Aug. 13, 2018 (EIRNS)—New disclosures this weekend concerning what Rudy Giuliani has called “the investigation ... worse than the no crime,” showed that British MI6 “ex” agent Christopher Steele and then-Justice Department Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr were in regular correspondence for all of 2016 and beyond, including on matters not yet known about “Russiagate.”
The correspondence of Steele and Ohr (and/or other DOJ officials) was requested months ago by letter of Chairmen Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Bob Goodlatte of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. Leaks of this particular British intelligence intervention are now showing its duration—from at least January 2016, long before any supposedly “American” investigation of Trump’s campaign started, to at least the end of January 2017, long after Steele had become “decommissioned,” or fired, as an informant by the FBI.
One exchange took place in late Jan. 31, 2017 immediately upon the President’s dismissal of Ohr’s superior, Sally Yates, as Deputy Attorney General. Steele asked if Ohr was “OK” and if he, Steele, were still able to “help locally as discussed....” Ohr replied, “I’m still here and able to help as discussed. I’ll let you know if that changes.” Steele texted back:
“If you end up out though, I really need another (bureau?) contact point/number who is briefed. We can’t allow our guy to be forced to go back home. It would be disastrous.”
Who or what “our guy” is, can’t yet be determined, adding another layer to the demand for full declassification. But what is clear, is that Steele, and presumably MI6 mentor Sir Richard Dearlove and others, considered Bruce Ohr crucial to avoid “disastrous” consequences for the British “Get Trump” drive.
British operative Steele, now thoroughly on the hot seat, is suddenly being described as a “well-respected spy” or “well-respected former spy” by a lot of worried U.S. Tories against Trump. On Sunday, Aug. 12 alone, the Washington Post’s lead editorial said that “Mr. Steele, a well-regarded ex-spy, was acting as a compensated researcher with a specialty in Russia”; Fox News commentator Juan Williams spoke of “Steele, a well-respected former intelligence agent”; and NBC anchor Chuck Todd said, “Steele was a well-respected former intelligence professional.” It all recalled another British spy who was “highly respected” by American Tories after being caught: Major André, whom President Washington hanged during the American War of Independence. Ohr lacks Benedict Arnold’s military prowess, but Congressional investigators are focussing on him now.
