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FBI agreed to fund spy who wrote​ Trump/Russia dossier

Dave Lawler, author of World

The FBI intended to pay the British spy who authored the Trump/Russia dossier to continue his work after the election, the Washington Post reports.

Christopher Steele was funded by groups opposing Donald Trump during the election, but the bureau planned to foot the bill afterward.

Trump has dismissed the dossier, which alleged Russia had compromising information about him, as "fake news", but James Comey felt compelled to brief him on it prior to his inauguration.

Why it matters: this is the clearest sign to date that the FBI felt Steele's work was credible, despite the fact that some facets of the dossier proved inaccurate. Today's revelation could also further strain relations between the White House and FBI.

The latest: the FBI came to a verbal agreement with Steele in October, according to the Post, but it evaporated after the dossier became the subject of media reports.

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Photo illustration: Aïda Amer, Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. This Axios series takes you inside the collapse of a president.

Episode 5: Trump vs. Gina — The president becomes increasingly rash and devises a plan to tamper with the nation's intelligence command.

In his final weeks in office, after losing the election to Joe Biden, President Donald Trump embarked on a vengeful exit strategy that included a hasty and ill-thought-out plan to jam up CIA Director Gina Haspel by firing her top deputy and replacing him with a protege of Republican Congressman Devin Nunes.

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Biden Cabinet confirmation schedule: When to watch hearings

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Jan. 16 in Wilmington, Delaware. Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The first hearings for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet nominations begin on Tuesday, with testimony from his picks to lead the departments of State, Homeland and Defense.

Why it matters: It's been a slow start for a process that usually takes place days or weeks earlier for incoming presidents. The first slate of nominees will appear on Tuesday before a Republican-controlled Senate, but that will change once the new Democratic senators-elect from Georgia are sworn in.

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