Mr. Gowdy. Would it be unusual for the Bureau to tell a source or an informant, you can't have media contacts while you're working for the Bureau?
Mr. Comey. I don't know whether that's part of the standard warnings or directions to a source.
Mr. Gowdy. And you're not familiar --
Mr. Kelley. Excuse me. One second, please.
Mr. Comey. Okay, thank you.
I'm sorry. Go ahead.
Mr. Gowdy. How did Chris Steele's information reach the FBI?
Mr. Comey. I don't know for sure. I have some recollection that he passed it to an agent that he knew and that that agent sent it on to headquarters. I think that's the way in which it reached the Counterintelligence Division, but I don't remember the specifics of that.
Mr. Gowdy. How did the Bureau investigate whatever information Steele provided?
Mr. Comey. I don't know in particular. I know that the Counterintelligence Division was investigating various aspects of the reports he had supplied, and that investigation was ongoing when I was fired.
Mr. Gowdy. Do you know whether the Bureau endeavored to either contradict or corroborate factual assertions made in what has later been described as the Steele dossier?
