ask me some questions about, how do you evaluate this information. >> reporter: after doing his own due diligence, corn arranged to do an interview via skype with christopher steele himself. >> our agreement at the time was that i could quote him but i would not identify him by name. >> reporter: the former spy didn't want publicity. he wanted action. in the interview, steele told corn, this is something of huge significance, way above party politics. he said, i think trump's own party should be aware of this stuff as well. corn had his scoop. but he knew he had to be careful. >> i wasn't going to take any of the specific allegations, particularly the salacious ones, because even donald trump is owed a degree of fairness, but also just for journalistic integrity, you don't want to report allegations about anyone that you can't verify aren't true. >> reporter: still, corn believed steele's reputation and the fbi's interest in the broader outlines of steele's