EMAILS SHOW CHRISTOPHER STEELE LOBBIED DOJ OFFICIAL ON BEHALF OF RUSSIAN OLIGARCH

• Christopher Steele was working on the Trump dossier at the same time he was lobbying DOJ official Bruce Ohr on behalf of a Russian oligarch linked to Putin.
• Newly revealed emails show Steele thought the U.S. government should grant visas to Deripaska, who had been barred from traveling to the U.S.
• Steele asked Ohr to “keep an eye” on Deripaska’s visa case.
• At the same time Christopher Steele was compiling a dossier accusing the Trump campaign of colluding with the Russian government, the former British spy was lobbying Department of Justice official Bruce Ohr on behalf of a Russian oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The connection between Steele and the oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, is laid out in emails the Justice Department recently provided Congress.

The emails show that Steele, a former British spy, advocated for Deripaska in negotiations over his visa status with the U.S. government. Deripaska, an aluminum magnate, had been blocked from traveling to the U.S. in 2006 because of suspected ties to Russian mobsters. Deripaska hired an American lawyer named Adam Waldman in 2009 to lobby the U.S. government to obtain a visa for the billionaire.

The Washington Examiner detailed the exchanges, which show Steele discussing Deripaska with Ohr, the former No. 4 official at the Justice Department.

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