Ex-FBI General Counsel: FBI Took Russia Dossier ‘Seriously’ But Not ‘Literally,’ Was ‘Quite Worried’ Comey Appeared To Be Blackmailing Trump

In an interview with Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast this week, former FBI general counsel James Baker said that the FBI was “quite worried” that then-FBI Director James Comey telling President Trump about the allegations made in the unverified, Democrat-funded Steele dossier would appear to be J. Edgar Hoover-esque blackmailing. He also admitted that while the FBI took the dossier “seriously,” it did not necessarily take it “literally.”

“We were quite worried about the Hoover analogies, and we were determined not to have such a disaster happen on our watch,” Baker told “Skullduggery” hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman, in comments highlighted by Fox News Wednesday. The FBI, he suggested, wanted to make it clear to Trump that they were not carrying on the blackmailing “legacy” of Hoover.