Highlights:

• Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele provided the FBI with a 35 page “pissgate” opposition research dossier on Donald Trump.
• The New York Times just revealed an agreed upon $50,000 payment if Steele could back it’s claims.
• When Steele failed to do so, the FBI refused to pay him the $50,000 – implying a low level of confidence in the dossier.
• Despite the low level of confidence, the FBI then used the dossier as the foundation for a FISA warrant request in September of 2016 as probably cause to spy on Trump campaign associate Carter Page, which was granted.
• In December, Trump’s attorney Donald McGahn asked Mr. Page to stop holding himself out as an “advisor” to Donald Trump, as he had no role in the Trump campaign, and was engaged in a limited capacity for a one-time foreign policy advisory committee in March.
• Recall that House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes disclosed the existence of multiple FISA warrants – so it is unclear if this dossier-linked FISA warrant is related to the Susan Rice unmasking scandal.

If one needed any more proof that the absurd and discredited 35 page “pissgate” Trump opposition research dossier was Fake News, look no further than Saturday’s edition of the New York Times – which revealed an arrangement struck between the FBI and the author of the dossier, former MI6 agent Christopher Steele; $50,000 for “solid corroboration” of his claims.

Steele was apparently unable to produce satisfactory evidence – and was ultimately not paid for his efforts:

Up until now, the dossier has been considered discredited since virtually all of it’s wide-ranging claims of financial collusion and lascivious leverage between President Trump, his advisors, and Russia were unproven. Now, however, we know that the FBI had such a low level of confidence in the document that they were unwilling to pay for it.

Where this story takes an even more troublesome turn is