Politics

CNN Analyst Ralph Peters: ‘The Steele Dossier Rings True To Me’

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The Steele dossier has been all but debunked by special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation findings, but that hasn’t deterred CNN analyst Ralph Peters.

“I can’t let it go. I can’t let it go. The Steele dossier rings true to me,” Peters, a retired lieutenant colonel, said in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.

Peters speculated that President Donald Trump has acted as an agent of Russia, which is one of the core claims of the Democrat-funded dossier. Peters repeated the familiar argument that Trump will not publicly criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin to make his case.

“He won’t criticize Putin, and why doesn’t he want sanctions? Why has he been slow rolling sanctions? Why does he just dove tail with Putin’s view of the world?” said Peters.

“Anderson, I may be utterly wrong,” he continued. “I may be influenced by my background as an intelligence officer but again, I go back to what has been not addressed: The Steele dossier. Given Trump’s behavioral profile, he was a perfect target and if you want various explanations, the Steele dossier is a viable one.”

Peters’ view of the dossier would seem to be out of whack with Mueller’s conclusions from the Russia probe. That’s because Mueller said in a report provided to the Justice Department on Friday that prosecutors found no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Mueller said.

The dossier, which was funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC, is a roadmap of sorts for the collusion conspiracy theory. It is considered the source document for the collusion theories that have pervaded the media over the past two years.

Christopher Steele claims in the controversial document that the Kremlin has blackmail material on Donald Trump. Steele also claimed that former Trump associates like Carter Page, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort conspired with Russia on behalf of the campaign.

Though Peters touted the now-debunked dossier, CNN’s Cooper did not step in to correct his guest’s contention that the document is accurate. That’s somewhat ironic given that Cooper ran a “Keeping Them Honest” segment just before Peters’ appearance criticizing a statement that Trump made about Mueller’s findings.

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