Business Insider
Donald Trump and Christopher Steele.
In fact, there has been an avalanche of support for Steele's credentials in the British press over the past two days, the cumulative effect of which has been to add credibility to the unproven allegations against the US president-elect. This may go some way to explaining Trump's latest flurry of Twitter fury.
Here are some key things we now know about Steele:
- Steele was a high-ranking MI6 official. He worked at Britain's intelligence service for years and was a highly regarded specialist on Russia, according to The Guardian. He served in Paris and Moscow in the 1990s before retiring. He now runs the intelligence company Orbis Business Intelligence with Christopher Burrows, a former British Foreign Office counsellor.
- He has a network of sources in Russia. The New York Times said he was known for "his knowledge of the intricate web of Kremlin-tied companies and associates that control Russia." He called on these contacts to compile the allegations against Trump.
- Steele has been trusted by the FBI and others with sensitive work. Reuters reported that the intelligence expert supplied the FBI with information on corruption at football's world governing body, FIFA, in 2010. He also gathered intelligence on Russia for England's 2018 World Cup bid. Russia ultimately triumphed during the bidding process.
- He has friends in high places. Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Moscow who helped alert US intelligence to the dossier, said Steele was a "very competent professional operator."
It hasn't all been one-way traffic, however. The dossier, which BuzzFeed published in full on Tuesday, does have its detractors. Elements of it have been proved untrue, most notably its incorrect spelling of Russian conglomerate Alfa Group as "Alpha-Group." It also said Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, travelled to Prague to meet with Russian officials. Cohen has since said he has never been to Prague.
Then there was this from another former British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Tony Brenton. He told Sky News:
"I've seen quite a lot of intelligence on Russia, and there are some things in it which look pretty shaky. For example it claims that the Russians began to cultivate Donald Trump five years ago. If they did that they showed remarkable prescience because at the time he had nothing to do with American politics."
Trump's view is clear: The dossier is dodgy, he has said stridently. But it may be a gamble.
"It's the biggest political bet he is ever going to make," Republican strategist Rick Wilson told the BBC. "The bet is this: He can bluster his way through this, there's nothing there. That at no point at any time in his multiple trips to Russia did he engage in any behaviour that was caught on tape. That's a big bet. If he's right, he's right. If he's not, it's going to have some significant consequences for this credibility."