by Kristina Wong, Breitbart:

Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and dossier author Christopher Steele worked together on a secret FBI plot that apparently involved helping a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, with U.S. visas in exchange for potential dirt on Donald Trump in the lead-up to the election, according to a recent New York Timesreport.

The Times reported:

Between 2014 and 2016, the F.B.I. and the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to turn Mr. Deripaska into an informant. They signaled that they might provide help with his trouble in getting visas for the United States or even explore other steps to address his legal problems. In exchange, they were hoping for information on Russian organized crime and, later, on possible Russian aid to President Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to current and former officials and associates of Mr. Deripaska.

The report revealed for the first time the existence of the alleged plot, which was described as a “broader, clandestine American effort to gauge the possibility of gaining cooperation from roughly a half-dozen of Russia’s richest men.”

Trump critics argued the report showed that Ohr and Steele — who communicated more than 60 times during the 2016 campaign — had a valid reason to speak that was not related to the Trump dossier:

Inconvenient fact for Trump: Steele and Ohr were working together long before Trump’s political career.

“The contacts between Mr. Steele and Mr. Ohr started before Mr. Trump became a presidential candidate and continued through much of the campaign.”
https://t.co/RH0xrwSiRw

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) 2 September 2018

However, others argued the alleged plot to flip Russian oligarchs sounded “moronic,” or that it appeared to be a cover-up.

“The FBI leaks a new cover story to NYT—the dumbest intel op ever. The FBI intended to ‘flip’ Russian oligarchs whose wealth Putin controlled. By offering what? Visas? Immunity from prosecution? Dinner at Arby’s? This is so moronic it might even be true,” tweeted the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran.

“So Ohr and Steele hatch a super-secret plan to make Deripaska (Steele’s billionaire client) an FBI asset? That’s why they communicated and met throughout 2016-2017?” American Greatness senior contributor Julie Kelly asked.

“The Russian collusion was coming from inside DOJ,” tweeted Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist.

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