The FBI continued to use the dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele to seek multiple Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants even after several red flags surfaced about its credibility and Steele's biases against President Donald Trump, according to partially redacted documents concerning top Justice Department official Bruce Ohr.
The documents, first obtained by Judicial Watch, show the FBI had formally documented Steele's bias, shortly after the November 2016 presidential election, reports Fox News.
The documents also show Ohr kept up his contacts with Steele for at least six months after the FBI fired the former spy, and showed Ohr knew Steele opposed Trump before the election.
According to the documents, which summarized the FBI's interviews with Ohr, he knew by September 2016, a month before the first FISA application was submitted to surveil Trump's campaign, that a person linked to the document "was passionate" about Trump not being elected.
"This had the effect of putting a senior DOJ official on notice that a witness/source had an extreme bias," a source close to the matter told Fox News.
In addition, internal FBI text messages that had been previously obtained by Fox News show the FBI had battled with a senior Justice Department official who claimed concerns about possible bias.
The FISA records are redacted but do not appear to show the FBI's documentation about Steele was shared with the court.
According to the FBI documents, Ohr kept up his contacts with Steele until special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May 2017 to investigate Russian interference in the election and the Trump campaign.