What Does The Released Carter Page FISA Warrant Actually Mean?

On Saturday, the FBI released a heavily-redacted version of the FISA warrant application against former Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page. That FISA warrant application, which was granted in October 2016 and thus allowed FBI surveillance against Page, doesn’t show much we don’t already know – hundreds of pages are blacked out. Here’s what we do know from the application:

1. The FBI Relied Heavily on The So-Called Steele Dossier. The dossier compiled by British spy Christopher Steele at the behest of the Hillary Clinton campaign and Fusion GPS was allegedly handed over to the FBI in September 2016, and served as a key component of the FISA warrant application. It didn’t play a minor role; it played a major role. With that said, most of the Steele dossier had to do with Trump and onetime Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort – and none of that material appears in the application.