COLLUSION: Days After Comey Firing, McCabe’s Team Re-Engaged Fired Dossier Author. “Two days after then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe formally put President Trump under criminal investigation in May 2017, bureau officials reached out to the author of the controversial ‘Steele dossier’ for more information, even though they had fired him for misconduct six months earlier. Text messages and congressional testimony transcripts reveal that McCabe’s “Russia team” re-established direct contact with ex-British spy Christopher Steele to build a case against the president for espionage and obstruction of justice after Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. Comey had previously described the dossier – opposition research alleging Trump-Russia ties that was paid for by the Clinton campaign – as ‘salacious and unverified.’ The FBI had severed ties with Steele in November 2016 due to behavior that convinced his handlers he was not a trustworthy source.”

It’s hard not to see this “investigation” as something more akin to payback in response to Trump messing with one of the FBI’s made men.