The notorious ex-British spy Christopher Steele -- behind the eponymous "Steele dossier" -- blames former President Donald Trump for causing the disappearance of two sources after critical evidence was declassified, according to a Reuters report citing public court documents released on Tuesday.
In a witness statement Steele called out Trump's decision to declassify his testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation back in 2017 as "one of the most egregious breaches of intelligence rules and protocol by the US government in recent times."
He then said that the move resulted in tragic consequences.
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"Two of the named Russian sources have not been seen or heard of since," according to Reuters.
Steele's comments come one day after Trump asked London's High Court to permit the continuation of his data protection lawsuit against Steele's British private investigations firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, that he co-founded.
"Trump denies all of the allegations in the report and is seeking unspecified compensation for inflicting 'personal and reputational damage and distress,'" according to the filing.
While defending against a barrage of criminal cases, Trump, who is leading the pack of 2024 Republican presidential nominees, is suing over the "Steele dossier" in order, he said in his own witness statement, to prove its claims were false.
Steele had supplied interviews with FBI agents as part of then Robert Mueller's special counsel probe into allegations that a conspiracy existed between Trump's 2016 presidential run and Russia.
Mueller filed a final report back in 2019 concluding that there wasn't a criminal conspiracy between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
As part of his last day serving as president, Trump declassified Steele's evidence.
Steele said this action was devastating.
"The publication of this document did serious damage to the U.S. government's Russian operations and their ability to recruit new Russian sources," he said, according to Reuters.
Steele also stated in his witness statement that he suspected Trump of being "motivated by a personal vendetta against me and Orbis and a desire for revenge."
It appears that from the statement, Steele claimed to have been friendly with Trump's daughter Ivanka and that because of this the former president "deepened his animus towards me and is one of the reasons for his vindictive and vexatious conduct towards me and Orbis."
Trump shot back at Steele in his own witness statement, clarifying that Ivanka was "completely irrelevant to this claim and any mention of her only serves to distract this court from [Orbis'] and Mr Steele's reckless behavior."
He added: "Any inference or allegation that Mr Steele makes about my relationship with my daughter is untrue and disgraceful."
