Yes, they're available--in heavily redacted form. From my perspective there's very little new or significant in the unredacted portions. What the 302s contain for the most part is a rehash of the dossier narrative--which the FBI got from Steele earlier. The contacts recorded in the 302s begin in late November, 2016--after Trump's election. Ohr recounts his contacts with both Chris Steele and Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS, and both appear to be telling the same story: Carter Page and then Michael Cohen were Trump go-betweens to Russia, the Alfa Bank server really was a communication link from Trump to Russia, not spam, etc. I have to wonder whether the purpose of these 302s is, from the FBI perspective, some sort of CYA exercise to make believe that this is new information that fueled the continuation of the Crossfire Hurrican investigation.
The one tidbit that was new was that Ohr states that Steele was in contact with John McCain's office "before October, 2016."
UPDATE 1: OK, I missed this:
Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_
BREAKING: Glenn Simpson was talking directly to Victoria Nuland at the State Dept. during the 2016 campaign, tying Hillary Clinton closer to the conspiracy,according to just-released FBI agent Joseph Pientka's 302 summaries of interviews with Bruce Ohr uncovered by Judicial Watch
5:49 PM - 8 Aug 2019
UPDATE 2: ht/t GP: As I stated above:
The Bruce Ohr 302s revealed that Christopher Steele was in direct contact with then-Senator John McCain’s office BEFORE the election, prior to October of 2016 — much earlier than previously known.
“Steele also told OHR that he spoke with a staff member of Senator John McCain’s office sometime prior to October 2016. Steele had this conversation at the request of [REDACTED]. Since October 2016, Steele had not spoken to anyone regarding the Trump dossier,” the 302 report said.
The interesting question, of course, is: Was McCain in contact with anyone else during this time period re the dossier? Other Senators, Representatives, Executive Branch officials, journalists?
> that Steele was in contact with John McCain's office "before October, 2016."<
ReplyDeleteI'm "shocked" by this information.
Well, of course not. But confirmation is always welcome.
DeleteI read through all 34 pages posted at Sundance's site. Nothing really new that I could tell- even the bit about McCain was already known.
ReplyDeleteWhat it sounded like to me, though, was that Steele really didn't want to talk to anyone other than Ohr, even though he repeatedly said he was willing to. I am guessing Steele didn't want to get caught up in a perjury issue, so used Ohr as a cutout only.
I don't believe the timing of the McCain contacts was known. What was known about McCain's contacts was after the election or closer to the election when McCain obtained the dossier and took it to Comey--who had, of course, already seen it.
DeleteRe "perjury," however, be careful how you use the word. Perjury can only occur when the speaker is under oath. The FBI doesn't put informants under oath. OTOH, 1001 could apply.
DeleteDid you hear Giuliani with Hannity? Giuliani:
ReplyDelete"There ispl enty of evidence that it happened, Sean. Plenty of evidence. Some of it's documentary. Some of it already recorded.
And for a year people in Europe have been trying to get this to our FBI and they have been thwarted and ignored and pushed aside. There was a deliberate effort to cover this up. It didn't just happen. Even during the Trump Administration. It was a deliberate effort to cover this up to protect the prior wrongdoers. That's really sick."
Yes, I wrote on that. Hannity, annoyingly, kept interrupting the best parts and failing to ask appropriate follow up questions.
DeleteThat's why I don't watch Hannity. More about him than the facts. Too much branding and not enough hide.
DeleteTom S.
I mystified anyone watches these cable talking heads--except for the comedy (or is that absurdity?), as my older brother constantly reminds me. It's not as if they're reporting actual news. It's eyeballs for advertising dollars drawn in by sensation and outrage. YMMV.
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