Fusion GPS
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booktv
glenn Simpson, "Crime in Progress"Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson discussed their investigation into…
DEEP STATE BS 2 25
mma
February 19, 2025, edition of The Benny Show, streamed on YouTube
BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): Julie, good morning to you and a very lovely morning. We are one step closer to Kash Patel. Let's begin with that. A very squishy 48-45 vote to — for cloture and to bring an executive session forward. Do you have any reporting that says that we may need to do extra work or arm twisting in the Senate for Kash?
JULIE KELLY (GUEST): Not that I see, but, of course, something like that is always possible. You do have — look, this is the appointment, Benny, as you know that the deep state, the ruling class is most afraid of. So I'm sure they are twisting arms as heavily as they possibly can to get some, defectors, Republican defectors, but they will pay a price if anyone prevents the confirmation of Kash Patel.
Because as you noted, he himself has been a victim of the lawfare, political lawfare by the previous Department of Justice. He has had a front row seat to all of this dating back to his work on, Devin Nunes' intelligence committee. He is the one that really found the ties between the DNC, Hillary Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, all tied to the Steele dossier. So he's got — but he's a professional, as you know, Benny. He's a very serious individual. He was a public defender and a prosecutor. So, he is going to exhume all the skeletons out of the FBI, hold people accountable, and clean up that agency to the extent that it's even possible.
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newsweek
Joe Rogan Fact Checks Himself Over His Hillary Clinton Remark
Published May 24, 2024 at 1:42 PM EDTUpdated May 24, 2024
Joe Rogan Rips New York Governor Over Black People Remark
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
Joe Rogan decided to tread with caution during a recent episode of his podcast when he made an accusation against former presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
He was discussing politics and corruption with his guest and comedian Dave Smith when he referenced the "Steele Dossier" that alleged her 2016 presidential opponent Donald Trump had nefarious links to the Russian government. The opposition research report has largely been discredited.
In the conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience, the podcaster alleged that research for the dossier had been paid for by Clinton herself. Newsweek has contacted Rogan's podcast via email.
"How about the fact that Clinton funded the Steele Dossier?" asked Rogan as he laughed. But before continuing with the conversation, Rogan asked his producer to check. "Let's confirm that the Clinton campaign funded the Steele Dossier."
A few minutes later, Rogan's producer pulls up an Associated Press story from March 31, 2022. Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee agreed to pay $113,000 to settle a Federal Election Commission investigation into whether they violated campaign finance law by misreporting spending on research that eventually became the dossier, the AP reported.
The Steele Dossier was released in January 2017, days before Trump was sworn in and alleged that Russia had been cultivating him for years. The dossier also alleged that Trump campaign figures worked with Russian officials to find damaging information about his opponent. Large portions of the report have not been substantiated.
It was an unfinished report compiled by the former British spy Christopher Steele and published by Buzzfeed News. Steele was hired by Washington political research firm Fusion GPS after it was reportedly employed by an unknown GOP client during the primary.
Fusion GPS was also hired to investigate Trump's ties to Russia by law firm Perkins Coie, which was engaged by Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
READ MORE Hillary Clinton
In the years since its release, there has been much scrutiny over the report's accuracy, with some parts found to be inaccurate or untrue, but other parts have been proven to be true. Those verified portions of the dossier include Russia's meddling in the 2016 elections and its obtaining compromising information on Clinton and the DNC, which was released through WikiLeaks. It found that Russian President Vladimir Putin directly ordered foreign interference in U.S. elections to explicitly help Trump and that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort received payment for Ukraine lobbying efforts.
In 2022, the FEC found that Clinton's campaign and the DNC had obscured payments through Perkins Coie and by publicly disclosing the payments to the firm as legal costs had covered up the true purpose of those payments.
===
beware bs
October 28, 2017
NEW YORK (AP) — A conservative website with strong ties to the Republican establishment triggered the investigation into Donald Trump’s past that ultimately produced the dossier that alleged a compromised relationship between the president and the Kremlin.
The Washington Free Beacon on Friday confirmed it originally retained the political research firm Fusion GPS to scour then-candidate Trump’s background for negative information, a common practice known as “opposition research” in politics. Leaders from the Free Beacon, which is funded largely by Republican billionaire Paul Singer, insisted none of the early material it collected appeared in the dossier released later in the year detailing explosive allegations, many uncorroborated, about Trump compiled by a former British spy.
“During the 2016 election cycle we retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary, just as we retained other firms to assist in our research into Hillary Clinton,” wrote the site’s editor-in-chief, Matthew Continetti, and chairman Michael Goldfarb. They continued: “The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele.”
Earlier in the week, reports revealed that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee continued funding Fusion’s work after the original GOP source lost interest.
Trump this week called it a “disgrace” that Democrats had helped pay for research that produced the document. But the original source of the research remained a secret.
The president himself hinted that he knew the Republican source earlier in the week, but he refused to share it. The White House had no immediate comment Friday night about the Free Beacon’s involvement.
The Washington Free Beacon was initially founded as a project of the conservative nonprofit group Center for American Freedom, as an alternative to liberal news sites run by progressive nonprofits. The Center for American Freedom was organized as a 501(c)4 and did not reveal its donors, but Singer was the sole funder of the site as recently as 2014, according to a Republican political veteran familiar with the site. The veteran spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the newspaper’s financial background.
The Free Beacon first retained Fusion to investigate Trump in the fall of 2015 and ended its relationship after Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination in late spring of 2016, according to a person close to Goldfarb, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private discussions.
The website and its leaders have strong ties throughout the Republican establishment. Goldfarb was deputy communications director on John McCain’s presidential campaign. Singer was backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s presidential bid at the time of the Free Beacon’s involvement. And one of Singer’s closest associates, Republican operative Dan Senor, served as Speaker Ryan’s chief adviser during the 2012 president campaign.
A representative to Singer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rubio denied any knowledge of the Fusion research or the dossier this week.
“As far as whether it was my campaign, it wasn’t and I’ll tell you why,” he told CNN. “I was running for president. I was trying to win. If I had anything against Donald Trump that was relevant and credible and politically damaging, I would’ve used it. I didn’t have it.”
The document, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, emerged this year as a political flashpoint in the broader debate over Trump’s ties to Russia.
A person close to Singer said the billionaire was not aware of Steele’s involvement or the dossier until earlier this year when it was published. The person was not authorized to share internal discussions.
Law enforcement officials have worked to corroborate the dossier’s claims. James Comey, FBI director at the time, advised Trump about the existence of the allegations, and Steele has been questioned as part of an ongoing probe into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump camp.
The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the Russian interference and whether it was tied to Trump’s campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee will help verify whether the Free Beacon had any involvement with Steele or his dossier, according to Jack Langer, a spokesman for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes.
“The Beacon has agreed to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee to help the Committee verify this assertion,” Langer said.
Miller reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Chad Day, Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Braun and Tom LoBianco in Washington contributed to this report.
Related Topics:Fusion GPS, Media, Donald Trump
===...
...dismissed as a tissue of fabrications by allies of President Donald Trump after its publication in January, but the infamous Trump-Russia dossier continues to generate controversy.
In recent weeks, the dossier containing lurid claims about the president's alleged ensnarement by Russian intelligence has again become the subject of fierce contention between Democrats and the GOP.
Republicans have claimed the document, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, had been exposed as a partisan smear after evidence emerged that the Clinton campaign had funded its research by Washington, D.C., firm Fusion GPS. But on Friday,*The New York Times*reported that GOP super donor Paul Singer's Washington Free Beacon website was the first to engage Fusion GPS to probe Trump's background.
Singer's involvement has reportedly enraged Trump. Populist firebrand and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon promised the president in a telephone conversation that he was going "off the chain" to attack Singer, Axios reported Sunday.
The development lays bare the conflict at the heart of the Republican Party, with Singer one of several establishment party figures Bannon has pledged to wage war against in his capacity as Trump's enforcer. GOP opponents of Trump were the earliest funders of the research behind the dossier, *Mother Jones* reported in October, 2016, and renegadeSenator John McCain has confirmed in a January statement that he passed a copy of the dossier to the FBI.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Singer is a longtime GOP activist and has donated tens of millions to Republican groups, candidates and causes. He donated $24 million to Republican and conservative groups in the 2016 election alone, with $10.6 million donated in 2014 and $2.8 million in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Singer backed MarcoRubio in the 2015 Republican primaries, and after Trump's election he made peace with the president, donating $1 million to the inaugural committee and significant sums to groups lobbying for Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
At a Bloomberg event in June, Singer enthused about the president's fiscal policies and saidhe and Trump "chatted a bit about taxes and economic policy" during a White House visit.
The Free Beacon denies funding research that contributed to the Russia dossier and said it told Fusion GPS to stop researching Trump when he clinched the Republican nomination in May 2016.
Friday's report, however, may mean that he is now in the crosshairs of Steve Bannon, as back at the helm of the Breitbart news network he wages "war" on the establishment GOP he accuses of being out to derail the president's populist agenda.
ref
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/11/14/devin-nunes-calls-an-experienced-organized-crime-researcher-funded-by-paul-singer-a-democratic-operative/
blog?
NUNES CALLS AN EXPERIENCED ORGANIZED CRIME RESEARCHER FUNDED BY PAUL SINGER A DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE:{:(style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:#d4d4d4;;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:
November 14, 2019/64 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, 2020 Presidential Election, Impeachment, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
There’s a key part of Devin Nunes and Mark Meadows’ defense of the President yesterday that deserves far more attention, both for the way it distorts the factual record and how it suggests that simply being an expert on Russian and Ukrainian organized crime makes one a Democratic operative.
At issue is their bid to make the impeachment inquiry about Nellie Ohr, whom they’ve past falsely suggested had a role in mainlining the Steele dossier into DOJ and FBI. They’ve brought Nellie, the spouse of a key DOJ expert on organized crime, Bruce Ohr, back into their narrative by claiming she testified to Congress that Fusion GPS relied on Ukrainian sources. The idea is that Ohr’s testimony would prove that Trump had good reason to think Ukraine had it in for him in 2016, so could rightly ask Ukraine to investigate whether that amounted to tampering in the election.
Here’s how Nunes laid it out in his demand that Ohr be called to testify:
Nellie Ohr, former contractor for opposition research firm Fusion GPS. In a 2018 interview with the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Ms. Ohr stated that, during her work with Fusion GPS that ultimately assisted in the production of the Steele dossier–comprising false allegations against then-candidate Trump–Fusion GPS used information from sources in Ukraine, including Serhiy Leshchenko who recently lost his post from the Ukrainian parliament. Given President Trump’s documented belief that the Ukrainian government meddled in the 2016 election to oppose his candidacy, which forms the basis for a reasonable desire for Ukraine to investigate the circumstances surrounding the election and any potential Ukrainian involvement, Ms. Ohr is a prime fact witness who can assist Congress and the American public in better understanding the facts and circumstances surrounding Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election.
In his demand, Nunes helpfully provides a footnote, to make it easy to see how many errors he makes in this paragraph. Here’s the passage of Ohr’s testimony before Congress that, Nunes falsely claims, backs his insinuations that Ohr tampered in the 2016 campaign.
GOP counsel Ryan Breitenbach is questioning her.
Q Was there indication from [her boss at Fusion GPS, Jake] Berkowitz or [Glenn] Simpson that they had any inside information as to whether there were suspicious connections with any of President Trump’s orbit of individuals including his family?
A What do you mean by “inside information”?
Q I would say any information that they specifically gave you, in terms of your employment with Fusion GPS, that would indicate that there were some level of connections with President Trump’s family and Russia?
A They would give me leads based on their open-source research and, you know, legal documents and other things.
Q Did they ever indicate that any of their leads were based off of sources of theirs?
A I don’t remember get- — regarding the Trump family, no.
Q Regarding any of the research during this year, 10-, 11-month period, was any — was any research based off of sources of theirs that you were aware of?
A Yes.
Q And who were the sources?
A I recall a — they were mentioning someone named Serhiy Leshchenko, a Ukrainian.
Q And did they give you any indication as to Leshchenko’s connections with them, how they got to know him? Were they doing work for him?
A With Fusion GPS?
Q Correct.
A I am not aware of how they —
Q Were you aware of how they had a connection with him?
A I am not aware.
Q But you were aware that he was a source of information that was leading to information that they had, that they were then presenting to you as reasons for following up on opposition research or what research —
A Yes.
Q — that is, on President Trump or his family?
A My understanding is that some — yes. And — yes, it was not necessarily on his family that Leshchenko’s research was on.
Q Are you aware of what his research, or what his source information included?
A His source information, I am not aware.
Q You are just aware that he was a source of —
A Yes.
Q — Glenn Simpson? Or was it a source of Mr. Berkowitz? Or both?
A I am not aware of a differentiation between them. Just a source for Fusion GPS.
Q That is one source. Were there any other sources that you were aware of?
A I don’t think so. I don’t recall that there were.
Q And were you aware of Mr. Leshchenko prior to him being mentioned to you as a potential source of their information?
A Yes.
Q In what way?
A He is very well-known, Ukrainian, anti-corruption activist. So I had read about him in the press.
Q Had you studied him before?
A What do you mean by “studied”?
Q Performed independent research for any prior employer.
A No. I followed him in the — you know, if I saw him mentioned in the press, I read — I read about it.
Q And previous to this particular incoming knowledge from Mr. Simpson or just from Fusion GPS, were you aware of any connections between Mr. Leshchenko — am I saying that name, by the way?
A Yes.
Q — Mr. Leshchenko and President Trump, or anyone in President Trump’s familial orbit or even friendly orbit?
A I was unaware of any connections before that. [my emphasis]
Before this colloquy, Ohr had already testified that she had “no reason to believe” that her work was integrated into the Steele dossier at all. Democratic staffers walked her through passage after passage in the Steele dossier and asked her if her work had provided background for it, which she said it did not. She also had already explained (to both Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows in separate interactions directly) that she, “did online open source research using Russian sources, media, social media, government, you know, business registers, legal databases, all kinds of things.” Ohr’s testimony was backed by Glenn Simpson’s earlier appearances before Congress — including an appearance before HPSCI that Nunes attended; Simpson also said his own research was based off open source research.
Moreover, both the reports Nellie did (PDF 216 to 299) and a table she put together on Trump and his flunkies’ ties to suspect Russians show that the bulk of her research for Fusion preceded the time when Christopher Steele was working on the dossier. Significantly, that means much of Nellie Ohr’s work was paid by GOP billionaire Paul Singer, not the DNC.
So in this passage, Nellie Ohr is talking leads she got from her boss at Fusion, Jake Berkowitz, based off open source research he had done, that she would use to do more open source research, for a project mostly paid for by a Republican billionaire interested in the ties between Trump and Russian organized crime.
And what the passage shows is that:
- Ohr said the information from Berkowitz came from open source reporting
- She described herself getting information on Serhiy Leshchenko’s efforts, because he was a very well-known anti-corruption activist who was covered in the press
- She twice said she was not aware of how Berkowitz and Simpson got their information from Leshchenko
- She also said she didn’t know where Leshchenko got his information
- Ohr said that Leshchenko’s reporting wasn’t focused on the Trump family (it almost certainly was focused on Paul Manafort, about whom Ohr wrote a detailed timeline)
In short, the transcript Nunes says supports a demand that Ohr testify does no such thing. Instead, it shows that this side of Fusion’s work relied on open source reporting, and that information on Leshchenko’s efforts was available via open sources. It also shows that Ohr repeatedly denied knowing whether the Fusion focus on Leshchenko was based on anything but open source reporting.
This transcript also shows that if Republicans really wanted to know about how Leshchenko’s work informed Fusion’s work, they should ask Simpson or Berkowitz to testify, because Ohr was only ever working from open sources — that is, doing research, mostly paid for by a Republican billionaire.
That background is all critically important for how Nunes ended yesterday’s testimony. In his closing statement at the hearing, Nunes restated his demand that Schiff permit Republicans to call their chosen witnesses, which he listed as:
- The whistleblower
- The folks that he spoke to
- Numerous Democratic operatives who worked with Ukraine to meddle in the election
Obviously, Nellie Ohr — an experienced researcher on Ukrainian and Russian organized crime — must fall into the latter category.
So on top of all the ways Nunes misrepresented the Ohr’s testimony (or her ability to testify on the issues he claims to want to hear), there’s this. The Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, believes that an expert on Ukrainian and Russian organized crime being paid to do open source research by a Republican billionaire must be a Democratic operative.
Tags: Bruce Ohr, Christopher Steele, Devin Nunes, Glenn Simpson, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, Nellie Ohr, Paul Manafort, Paul Singer, Serhiy Leshchenko
from grassley
to
March 31, 2017 VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION The Honorable Dana Boente Acting Deputy Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W
...
Prevezon’s lobbying efforts were reportedly commissioned by Mr. Katsyv, who organized them through a Delaware non-profit he formed and through the law firm then representing Prevezon in the asset forfeiture case, Baker Hostetler.6 Among others, the efforts involved lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS, a political research firm led by Glenn Simpson.7 According to press reports, Baker Hostetler partner Mark Cymrot briefed congressional staff on the asset forfeiture case, attempting to discredit the Justice Department’s version of events and instead push the Russian government’s account.8 Rinat Akhmetshin, along with former Congressman Ron Dellums, reportedly lobbied the House Foreign Affairs Committee, telling staffers “they were lobbying on behalf of a Russian company called Prevezon and ask[ing] [the Committee] to delay the Global Magnitsky Act or at least remove Magnitsky from the name,” as well as telling the staffers “it was a shame that this bill has made it so Russian orphans cannot be adopted by Americans.”9 Mr. Akhmetshin was also involved in the screening, targeting Congressional staffers and State Department officials, of an anti-Magnitsky propaganda film.10 For its part, Fusion GPS reportedly “dug up dirt” on Mr. Browder’s property and finances, and attempted to generate negative stories about Mr. Browder and Hermitage in the media, shopping stories to a number of reporters.11
...
It is particularly disturbing that Mr. Akhmetshin and Fusion GPS were working together on this pro-Russia lobbying effort in 2016 in light of Mr. Akhmetshin’s history and reputation. Mr. Akhmetshin is a Russian immigrant to the U.S. who has admitted having been a “Soviet counterintelligence officer.”14 In fact, it has been reported that he worked for the GRU and allegedly specializes in “active measures campaigns,” i.e., subversive political influence operations often involving disinformation and propaganda.15 According to press accounts, Mr. Akhmetshin “is known in foreign policy circles as a key pro-Russian operator,”16 and Radio Free Europe described him as a “Russian ‘gun-for-hire’ [who] lurks in the shadows of Washington’s lobbying world.”17 He was even accused in a lawsuit of organizing a scheme to hack the computers of one his client’s adversaries.18 As you know, Fusion GPS is the company behind the creation of the unsubstantiated dossier alleging a conspiracy between President Trump and Russia. It is highly troubling that Fusion GPS appears to have been working with someone with ties to Russian intelligence –let alone someone alleged to have conducted political disinformation campaigns– as part of a proRussia lobbying effort while also simultaneously overseeing the creation of the Trump/Russia dossier. The relationship casts further doubt on an already highly dubious dossier. The actions of Mr. Akhmetshin, Fusion GPS, and the others described in Mr. Browder’s complaint appear to show that they acted on behalf of a foreign principal. This is exactly the type of activity Congress intended to reach with FARA. When properly enforced, FARA provides important transparency. However, in this case, because none of the parties involved in the anti-Magnitsky lobbying had properly registered under FARA, these suspicious connections were not appropriately documented and brought to public light. In fact, it is unclear whether the FBI was or is aware of Fusion GPS’s pro-Russia lobbying and connection to Mr. Akhmetshin, or that these efforts coincided with the creation of the dossier. Presumably, such awareness would have informed the FBI’s evaluation of the dossier’s credibility. This is why it is important for the Department of Justice to actually enforce FARA’s disclosure requirements.
==
ref hmmn
the hill
ho would have thought that, this deep into the Russia collusion probe, we'd be learning about yet another dossier connected to Hillary Clinton? And, as it turns out, it was sort of a family secret.
By his own account, senior Department of Justice (DOJ) official Bruce Ohr played an essential — and unorthodox — role, carrying politically tainted allegations of Donald Trump-Russia collusion to the FBI during the 2016 election.
First, it was unverified intelligence starting in July 2016 from Trump-hating former British spy Christopher Steele,the author of the infamous Russia dossier.
Next, it was sketchy intelligence starting in August 2016 from Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson, an opposition-research contractor who hired Steele and was paid to help Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign develop political dirt on Trump.
And now we learn, from testimony that is still being kept secret from the public, that Ohr admitted to Congress last year that he also took Russia information that his wife, Nellie, assembled against Trump on a computer drive and delivered that to the FBI in 2016 — a revelation that has raised fresh concerns in Congress about a possible conflict of interest.
Nellie Ohr worked for Fusion GPS and, for a time, worked on the same Clinton-financed Russian research project as Steele, according to the testimony.
DOJ ethics rules forbid department officials from working in cases where a spouse has a financial interest, a prohibition that Bruce Ohr said he knew about when he forwarded his wife’s evidence to the FBI.
The way Ohr described it, his wife’s research was like an additional dossier assembled from Fusion GPS research to augment what Steele was separately providing the FBI.
“She (Nellie Ohr) provided me with a memory stick that included research she had done for Fusion GPS on various Russian figures,” Ohr told congressional investigators.
“And the reason she provided that information to me is, my understanding was, it related to some of the same — it related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. And she gave me that stick to give to the FBI.”
Ohr’s revelation about his wife adds yet another example of people connected to the Clinton machine flooding the FBI with anti-Trump Russia research during the 2016 election.
Steele’s dossier was the opening salvo. A document sent to the State Department by Clinton proteges Cody Shearer and Sidney Blumenthal was another. A thumb drive given by Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman to FBI general counsel James Baker was a third. Simpson's thumb drive given to Bruce Ohr was a fourth. And Nellie Ohr’s thumb drive would be a fifth. At least three of those work products — those from Steele, Shearer/Blumenthal and Nellie Ohr — resemble what many people might consider a dossier.
==
==
Conservative Free Beacon originally funded firm that created Trump-Russia dossier
By CRISTIANO LIMA 10/27/2017 07:51 PM EDT
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Representatives for the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative online news site, informed congressional investigators Friday the outlet had originally funded the research firm that created the salacious dossier containing allegations of ties between Donald Trump's campaign and Russian operatives, the publication said in a statement.
The firm, Fusion GPS — which has been entwined in federal and congressional probes into Russian election interference in 2016 — was retained by the Free Beacon during the 2016 elections "to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary," Free Beacon editor and chief Matthew Continetti and chairman Michael Goldfarb said in the statement.
Goldfarb and Continetti, however, said they have no knowledge or financial involvement in the creation of the now-infamous Trump-Russia dossier, prepared by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS.
The Free Beacon said it stood by its deployment of Fusion GPS during the 2016 campaign and its reporting on the matter.
"We stand by our reporting, and we do not apologize for our methods. We consider it our duty to report verifiable information, not falsehoods or slander, and we believe that commitment has been well demonstrated by the quality of the journalism that we produce," Goldfarb and Continetti said.
Donald Trump is pictured. | Getty Images
TECHNOLOGY
How Facebook, Google and Twitter 'embeds' helped Trump in 2016
By NANCY SCOLA
Democratic officials have come under scrutiny over the past week over after reports on Monday that the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign had also funded opposition research by Fusion GPS.
Trump on Wednesday called the unverified dossier a "disgrace," dismissing it as "made up," and blasted Democratic officials for their involvement with the research firm.
“I understand they paid a tremendous amount of money,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “And Hillary Clinton always denied it. The Democrats always denied it. And now, only because it’s gonna come out in a court case, they said yes, they did it. They admitted it, and they’re embarrassed by it. But I think it’s a disgrace. It’s a very sad commentary on politics in this country.”
The Free Beacon said Friday it told lawmakers they'd "offer to answer what questions we can in their ongoing probe of Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier."
==
perkins coie
https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/10/25/dnc-clinton-campaign-pay-trump-russia-steele-dossier/
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==
https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/heres-everything-you-need-know-about-right-wing-theory-fbi-planted-spy-trump
Here's Everything You Need to Know About Right-Wing Theory That FBI Planted Spy in Trump Campaign
The claim relies upon the testimony of a co-founder of Fusion GPS.
By Grace Bennett / Media Matters May 18, 2018, 6:26 AM GMT
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38 COMMENTS
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
In recent days, many on the right have pushed the claim that the FBI "infiltrated" President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with a "mole." The claim relies upon the testimony of a co-founder of Fusion GPS, the research firm that hired a former British agent who compiled an intelligence dossier about Trump’s connections to various Russians. The claim also builds off of a recent squabble between the Department of Justice and the chairman of the House intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), over the release of classified information. Here is what you need to know about the story’s origins:
On January 2, Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, the founders of the research firm Fusion GPS, claimed in an op-ed that the FBI had a source “inside the Trump camp” during the 2016 election.
On January 9, the transcript from Simpson’s August 2017 Senate testimony was released, revealing that he had told the Senate Judiciary Committee it was his “understanding” that the bureau had an “internal Trump campaign source.” Simpson also testified during the hearing that conversations he had with the author of the dossier about Trump’s Russia connections, Christopher Steele, led him to believe that the FBI had “a human source from inside the Trump organization.”
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The same day, reporters tweeted that the Trump campaign insider Simpson referred to was George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and that the FBI's source was an Australian diplomat who informed U.S. officials that Papadopoulos had mentioned to him receiving Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton in May 2016.
Between January 9 and January 10, both The New York Times and The Washington Post reported that the “human source” Simpson had mentioned was allegedly the Australian diplomat, Alexander Downer.
On January 18, however, a lawyer for Simpson sent a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asserting that Simpson “stands by his testimony.” The lawyer stated that Simpson was not withdrawing his claim that Steele had “believed the FBI had another source within the Trump organization/campaign.”
On May 8, The Washington Post reported that the DOJ was refusing to hand over information requested by Nunes because it could “endanger a top-secret intelligence source.” The source, according to the Post, had developed information that was “provided to the Mueller investigation.”
Two days later, The Wall Street Journal’s Kim Strassel published an op-ed in which she speculated that the FBI may have secretly had a source “who used his or her non-FBI credentials” to interact with the Trump campaign.
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Strassel wrote in the Journal that the DOJ and the FBI “outright hid critical information from a congressional investigation," which could mean that the FBI had a spy linked to the Trump campaign.
Strassel wrote that “When government agencies refer to sources, they mean people who appear to be average citizens but use their profession or contacts to spy for the agency,” asserting that the FBI could have secretly planted a source who interacted with the Trump campaign.
According to Strassel, any such move on the FBI’s part would “amount to spying.”
Strassel also concluded that "Now we find [the FBI] may have also been rolling out human intelligence, John Le Carré style, to infiltrate the Trump campaign."
Strassel doubled down on her assertion during a May 11 appearance on Fox News, claiming, “The FBI was using human intelligence to spy on a presidential campaign.”
Right-Wing Media Is Pushing the Spy Theory
Radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed he knows “who the spy is” and that this person was “like an operative employed by the FBI to basically entrap somebody who worked with the Trump campaign in a peripheral way.” He also said that Papadopoulos “was entrapped by three people, including the person who is reputed to be the spy."
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Fox’s Sean Hannity argued that there was a spy embedded in the campaign and called the Strassel op-ed a “stunning new development” that raises “serious concerns and questions about the possibility [of] the F.B.I. planting a mole inside the Trump campaign.”
The hosts of Fox & Friends devoted multiple segments to Strassel’s op-ed and also highlighted Limbaugh’s theory that the FBI planted a “spy” to “entrap” Trump associates. Fox’s Pete Hegseth argued that Limbaugh is “on to something,” and co-host Steve Doocy asked, “Was the FBI out to frame candidate Donald Trump?”
Trump sycophant and Fox Business host Lou Dobbs tweeted: “#ExposeTheMole- FBI & DOJ planted an spy in @realDonaldTrump’s 2016 campaign & didn’t tell congressional investigators.”
During an appearance on Hannity’s radio show, Fox’s Sara Carter claimed, “It appears [the FBI] had somebody that was reporting back on information inside the Trump campaign, which would mean that they had a mole connected to people in the Trump campaign or within the Trump campaign.” Carter repeated the report on Hannity’s prime-time Fox News show, claiming, “Yes, I believe [the FBI] did have an informant, somebody that was reporting back to them.”
The Daily Caller pushed the narrative in an article about Rep. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) appearance on Fox News: “Ron DeSantis Says He May Know Who Was Spying On The Trump Campaign: ‘There Needs To Be Follow Up’.”
Pro-Trump site The Gateway Pundit ran multiple articles by founder Jim Hoft that pushed the claim, including one in which Hoft claimed to know the “probable” identity of the “spy,” and another that argued there were multiple “deep state” sources.
Far-right fringe blog Zero Hedge posted Strassel’s op-ed with the headline, “WSJ: The FBI Hid A Mole In The Trump Campaign,” even though Strassel never claimed the “mole” was actually inside the campaig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier