Sheldon Whitehouse: The Steele Dossier Is a ‘Perfectly Legitimate Intelligence Product’

RUSH EXCERPT:
WHITEHOUSE: "Well, I think the key piece of it is that this latest where that effort to cause a distraction from the tasks before us really doesn’t stand up, that in reality, the Steele dossier which I think drives a lot of Republicans crazy was actually perfectly legitimate intelligence product by an experienced former senior person in the mi-6 Russia desk who has had his work regularly taken seriously and valued by law enforcement and intelligence services in the United States. And that the timing is very different than has been suggested, that the Steele's dossier was not a product of a Democratic political effort, it was actually first commissioned by a conservative newspaper. And that the Steele dossier wasn’t what triggered the FBI investigation. That began when the British and then as director clapper told us European allies and then the Australians based on their contact from papadopoulous all came to American agencies and said hey, you guys, you really got to be worried about what Russia is up to in your elections. We have some really serious Intel we need to share with you. And those were the driving factors behind the FBI beginning to look into this."