General Discussion

And he clearly has access to SIGINT data as well as HUMINT. He describes how he was asked to compile the dossier, in cooperation with a US-based private intelligence firm working on behalf of Hillary's lawyers (Steele himself didn't know who the client was until later in the process), and how at first he and the FBI worked well together. In fact, the FBI paid him for earlier intelligence work. But the Trump investigation destroyed his relationship with the FBI, and he's still feeling betrayed by certain people there, who then began helping to smear him so that the dossier was completely discredited in the press. He had previously uncovered disturbing payments from Russia to Brexit-aligned people in the UK. Of course, Russia wanted to undermine the EU and NATO.

Steele still stands by his work. But as he said, raw intelligence is usually about 70% accurate. If even 70% of the dossier is true, then Trump truly is in Putin's pocket. And people died because Trump leaked names of CIA assets to the Russians.

But we all know this, don't we? Or at least suspected it.