Bombshell buried deep inside IG report: FBI gave 'highly classified' info to British spy Christopher Steele

Inspector General Michael Horowitz discovered that FBI agents shared "highly classified" intelligence with British spy Christopher Steele during a meeting in Rome just weeks before the 2016 election.

The revelation is buried deep in the IG report on the government's abuse of federal surveillance powers, RealClearInvestigations reported.

According to the report, senior FBI agents met with Steele, the man who compiled the anti-Trump "dossier" for Hillary Clinton's campaign, in October 2016 in Rome. They gave Steele a "general overview" of Crossfire Hurricane — the name for the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign — as well as info on key Trump campaign members.

Shockingly, the FBI also compensated Steele $15,000 for the meeting and knew that Steele was compiling research for Clinton and Fusion GPS.

From RealClearInvestigations:

Much of the public reporting regarding this meeting has focused on the information Steele shared with the FBI – and the many reasons agents should have doubted its credibility. But largely neglected has been the opposite side of the equation – what the FBI told Steele. The Inspector General reports that the bureau revealed to him much of the highly classified information that it had gathered regarding alleged Trump-Russia links.

Just weeks after "unlawfully" sharing highly classified information with Steele, the FBI severed its relationship with the British spy for leaking information to the media, according to the report.

The IG report states that the breach of classified information was investigated, but action was not taken against the agents responsible.

Instead, "the IG report offers possible explanations for the agent's behavior," RealClearInvestigates noted.

The report, though, suggests the agent had permission to share classified information with Steele, but such permission, if it had been granted, was not properly recorded.

Unfortunately, Office of the Inspector General spokesperson Stephanie Logan declined to comment, RealClearInvestigations reported.