Former MI6 spy behind ‘Trump blackmail’ dossier emerges from hiding and returns to work
The former MI6 agent behind the controversial Trump dossier has emerged and returned to work on Tuesday, nearly two months after its publication caused an international scandal and furious denials from Washington and Moscow.
Christopher Steele posed for a photograph outside the office of his business intelligence company Orbis in Victoria, London. Speaking for the first time since his dossier was revealed, Steele said he had received messages of support.
I’d like to say a warm thank you to everyone who sent me kind messages and support over the last few weeks
“I’m now going to be focusing my efforts on supporting the broader interests of our company here,” he told the Press Association news agency. “I’d like to say a warm thank you to everyone who sent me kind messages and support over the last few weeks.”
Steele, who left British intelligence in 2009 and co-founded Orbis with an MI6 colleague, said he would not comment substantively on the contents of the dossier: “Just to add, I won’t be making any further statements or comments at this time.”
Published in January by BuzzFeed, the dossier suggested that Donald Trump’s team had colluded with Russian intelligence before the US election to sabotage Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Citing unidentified sources, it said Trump had been “compromised” by Russia’s FSB spy agency during a trip to Moscow in 2013.