Mr. Comey. My understanding is that that effort -- that an effort was under way to try to replicate, either rule in or rule out, as much of that collection of reports that's commonly now called the Steele dossier as possible, and that that work was ongoing when I was fired.
Mr. Gowdy. When did that work begin?
Mr. Comey. My recollection is sometime in '16, but I don't know when.
Mr. Gowdy. Before or after it was used in a court filing?
Mr. Comey. I think before that. I think -- I think when it was received, there was an effort immediately to try and evaluate it to understand it, and that continued over the next 6 months.
Mr. Gowdy. What is the basis of your belief that there was an immediate attempt to corroborate or contradict the underlying factual assertions?
Mr. Comey. I have some recollection, vague, of being told we're trying to assess this to understand what we can make of it, what parts we can rely on, what parts we can't. But I don't -- I don't remember more than that.
Mr. Gowdy. Was Steele the original source of the information, or did he himself have sources and subsources?
Ms. Bessee. Mr. Chairman, to the extent that it goes -- your line of questioning goes beyond Christopher Steele in particular and into other sources that may impact special
