Trump dossier author Christopher Steele won’t speak with prosecutor Barr appointed to probe Russian investigation

Christopher Steele, the former British MI6 agent who compiled a dossier that alleged links between Donald Trump and the Russian government will not speak with the prosecutor appointed to investigate the origins of the Russian investigation, Reuters reports.

Citing a source with knowledge of the situation, Steele is reportedly refusing to cooperate with John Durham, who was tapped by Attorney General William Barr to probe the Russian investigation. Last week, Trump gave Barr “broad authority to declassify intelligence materials related to the investigations” and “ordered the heads of U.S. spy and law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Durham,” Reuters reports.

Steele, through his private investigative firm Fusion GPS, authored the dossier, which alleged a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives to hand the president the 2016 presidential election.

As Reuters reports:

The source close to Steele’s company said Steele would not cooperate with Durham’s probe but might cooperate with a parallel inquiry by the Justice Department’s Inspector General into how U.S. law enforcement agencies handled pre-election investigations into both Trump and Clinton.

Steele also cooperated with Mueller’s investigative team, voluntarily submitting to two interviews in September 2017. He also gave written testimony to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in August 2018, the source said.