Who Wrote The Dossier--And Does It Matter?

The release of heavily (and absurdly) redacted copies of the Bruce Ohr FD-302s--in which Ohr recounts what Chris Steele and Glenn Simpson told him--has renewed interest in the authorship of the "Steele" dossier. Because the 302s basically amount--for the most part--to a rehash of the dossier. There are, to be sure, some added details. For example, it turns out that Steele was in contact with John McCain's office at a very early point in the development of the dossier--prior to October, 2016.

Dan Bongino did a very nice interview this morning with Fox. In it he articulated in fairly persuasive fashion his theory on the dossier. Basically--and this is the 25 words or less version, more or less--Bongino believes that Steele was the "front man" for the dossier, but that Nellie Ohr wrote it. In other words, Steele provided cred for the dossier--he was former MI6 and had worked in Russia (albeit long ago), and he was a known informant for the FBI in a major international case. Here's that interview:

It pays to listen closely, or maybe listen to the interview more than once. I presented the brief version, but Bongino's full version is a bit more nuanced than that. He points out, naturally, that Steele may have been "a part" of putting together the eponymous dossier. But, he notes, we know that Nellie Ohr put together a different dossier--a dossier on Paul Manafort. More on that in just a moment. However, as he has in the past, Bongino also pushes the notion that a 2007 article by Glenn Simpson (Nellie's boss at Fusion GPS) in the WSJ actually amounted to the dossier--all that was done, claims Bongino, is change a few names.