Christopher Steele is the man behind the recent dossier prepared on Donald Trump that suggests he is tied to activities with Russia.

WHO IS MI6 OFFICER CHRISTOPHER STEELE?

The file was prepared by Steele, 52, who was shared as the author of the piece by the Wall Street Journal. He has since left his home in Surrey, England, for fear that he will be targeted for his work.

Steele was an officer of MI6, the British intelligence agency, equivalent to the CIA in America, and serves in Paris and Moscow through the 1990s before retiring. In 2009, he founded a private research firm called Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. with colleague Christopher Burrows, 58. Burrows will neither confirm nor deny that Steele and Orbis created the dossier.

US intelligence says it cannot substantiate that the information in the memos was created from contacts inside and outside of Russia. Trump has, of course, denied the allegations present, and called it “fake news.” Russia has also denied having any harmful materials on Trump.

In an interview with retired CIA officer John Sipher, he says Steele has “some credibility” and a good reputation. “I have confidence that the F.B.I. is going to follow this through,” Sipher said. “My nervousness is that these kind of things are going to dribble and drabble out for the next several years and cause a real problem for this administration going forward.”

Another issue is that the sources mentioned in the dossier cannot be confirmed. “I have a lot of experience in this world,” said an anonymous investigator who has met with Steele and read the dossier. “If I were the client, I would throw it back and say, ‘Where’s the evidence guys? I can’t use this.'” He adds, “Maybe they went to a usually reliable source, but there’s no explanation about the credibility of these sources. Maybe sometimes sources want to tell the investigator what their clients want to hear.”

A friend of Steele’s reported that Steele has become “terrified for his and his family’s safety,” and so have fled their home.

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