Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/clinton-campaign-dnc-paid-for-research-that-led-to-russia-dossier/2017/10/24/226fabf0-b8e4-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html?utm_term=.5368d1bc1646

Quote :

"The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about President Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the matter said. Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research. After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained the firm in April 2016 on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Before that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary. The Clinton campaign and the DNC, through the law firm, continued to fund Fusion GPS’s research through the end of October 2016, days before Election Day. Fusion GPS gave Steele’s reports and other research documents to Elias, the people familiar with the matter said. It is unclear how or how much of that information was shared with the campaign and DNC, and who in those organizations was aware of the roles of Fusion GPS and Steele. One person close to the matter said the campaign and the DNC were not informed of Fusion GPS’s role by the law firm. The dossier has become a lightning rod amid the intensifying investigations into the Trump campaign’s possible connections to Russia. Some congressional Republican leaders have spent months trying to discredit Fusion GPS and Steele, and tried to determine the identity of the Democrat or organization that paid for it. Trump tweeted as recently as Saturday that the Justice Department and FBI should “immediately release who paid for it.” Elias and Fusion GPS declined to comment on the arrangement. Spokespersons for the Clinton campaign and the DNC had no immediate comment. Some of the details are included in an Oct. 24 letter sent by Perkins Coie to a lawyer representing Fusion GPS, telling the research firm that it was released from a client-confidentiality obligation. The letter was prompted by a legal fight over a subpoena for Fusion GPS’s bank records. People involved in the matter said that they would not disclose the dollar amounts paid to Fusion GPS, but said that the campaign and the DNC shared the cost. Steele previously worked in Russia for British intelligence. The dossier is a compilation of reports he prepared for Fusion. The dossier alleged that the Russian government collected compromising information about Trump and the Kremlin was engaged in an active effort to assist his campaign for president. U.S. intelligence agencies later released a public assessment which asserted that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to aid Trump. The FBI has been investigating whether any Trump associates helped the Russians in that effort. [FBI once planned to pay former British spy who authored controversial Trump dossier] Trump has adamantly denied the allegations in the dossier and has dismissed the FBI probe as a witch hunt. Fusion GPS’s work researching Trump began during the Republican presidential primaries, when the GOP donor paid for the firm to investigate the real estate tycoon’s background. Fusion GPS did not start off looking at Trump’s Russia ties, but quickly realized that those relationships were extensive, according to the people familiar with the matter. When the Republican donor stopped paying for the research, Elias, acting on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the DNC, agreed to pay for the work to continue. The Democrats paid for research, including by Fusion GPS, because of concerns that little was known about Trump and his business interests, according to the people familiar with the matter. These people said that it is standard practice for political campaigns to use law firms to hire outside researchers to ensure their work is protected by attorney-client and work-product privileges. The Clinton campaign paid Perkins Coie $5.6 million in legal fees from June 2015 to December 2016, according to campaign finance records, and the DNC paid the firm $3.6 million in “legal and compliance consulting’’ since Nov. 2015 — though it’s impossible to tell from the filings how much of that work was for other legal matters and how much of it related to Fusion GPS. At no point, these people said, did the Clinton campaign or the DNC direct Steele’s activities. They described him as a Fusion GPS subcontractor. Some of Steele’s allegations began circulating in Washington in the summer of 2016 as the FBI launched its counterintelligence investigation into possible connections between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Around that time, Steele shared some of his findings with the FBI. After the election, the FBI agreed to pay Steele to continue gathering intelligence about Trump and Russia, but the bureau pulled out of the arrangement after Steele was publicly identified in news reports. The dossier was published by BuzzFeed News in January. Fusion GPS has said in court filings that it did not give BuzzFeed the document. Officials have said that the FBI has confirmed some of the information in the dossier. Other details, including the most sensational accusations, have yet to be verified and may never be. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that Steele was respected by the FBI and the State Department for earlier work he performed on a global corruption probe. In early January, then-FBI Director James B. Comey presented a two-page summary of Steele’s dossier to President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump. In May, Trump fired Comey, which led to the appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as special counsel investigating the Trump-Russia matter. Congressional Republicans have tried to force Fusion GPS to identify the Democrat or group behind Steele’s work, but the firm has said that it would not do so, citing confidentiality agreements with its clients. Last week, Fusion GPS executives invoked their constitutional right not to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee. The firm’s founder, Glenn Simpson, had previously given a 10-hour interview to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Over objections from Democrats, the Republican leader of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), subpoenaed Fusion GPS’s bank records to try to identify the mystery client. Fusion GPS has been fighting the release of its bank records. A judge on Tuesday extended a deadline for Fusion GPS’s bank to respond to the subpoena until Friday while the company attempts to negotiate a resolution with Nunes. Julie Tate contributed to this report."

10/24/2017 7:28:36 PM

So what?

It's not surprising, it's not illegal, and unfortunately for Trump, some of the allegations have been verified by the FBI.

Funny how all this Uranium talk about HRC has picked up steam during the last day or so.

Rich people with vendettas are par for the course, especially when it comes to politics.

10/24/2017 7:43:26 PM

We've known this for at least a year now...?

It was Jeb Bush's campaign that initially funded it, when Jeb dropped out, the DNC picked up the funding.

10/24/2017 8:19:16 PM

Quote :

"Before that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary."

Did you overlook this part in your orgasmic glee? We've known all of this for over a year.

And it doesn't matter who paid for it - what was uncovered is what matters.

Quote :

"some of the allegations have been verified by the FBI"

[Edited on October 24, 2017 at 8:48 PM. Reason : a]

10/24/2017 8:43:05 PM

^^ didn't overlook it

why do you think all of these Republicans are coming out crazy against Trump?

When he said he was against the establishment, that included Republicans.

10/24/2017 9:44:59 PM

How is this a scandal? It’s oppo through a domestic research firm picked up by Dems after the GOP stopped funding it post-primary. Isn’t this kind of SOP.

Also, it’s been known for a loooonnnngggg time. What am I missing?

https://twitter.com/clarajeffery/status/922997687737188353

[Edited on October 25, 2017 at 8:47 AM. Reason : Original ]

10/25/2017 8:43:24 AM

i am also very confused what about this is news

10/25/2017 9:24:51 AM

It's not, just the new smokescreen for the mid-week 'news' cycle.

10/25/2017 9:28:30 AM

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/25/fec-complaint-accuses-clinton-dnc-violations/

10/25/2017 10:32:22 PM

I presume they'll file a similar complaint against the GOPers who initiated the whole thing and paid for it prior to the left picking up the tab?

10/25/2017 11:48:26 PM

The only outrageous thing here is if Clinton paid for it why didn't we know about everything before the election.

This was a terrible waste of some oppo research

[Edited on October 25, 2017 at 11:58 PM. Reason : ]

10/25/2017 11:57:46 PM

My guess - once it was handed over to the FBI it was one of those "do not speak about this" type things.

Remember, they were concerned about people changing the way they communicated if it was ever released they were under surveillance. I think that may have actually happened with Paul Manafort, though I can't remember when the article was published where I think I read that.

But yea - you don't use something this serious in your campaign against someone, you let the authorities investigate and prosecute.

10/26/2017 8:52:41 AM

the dossier was rough work product of a contractor of a contractor of a law firm so it's hard to know when and if they saw the full dossier


also, one interesting part of this "new bombshell" that people like kdogg are glancing over is that the FBI found Steele credible enough that they wanted to pay him to continue to investigate before he was made public

10/26/2017 9:15:33 AM

The whole late October timeline is strange:

Funding to steele/fusion ends in late October 2016
First reporting of the dossier on oct 31 2016, reports it was handed over to the FBI:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/veteran-spy-gave-fbi-info-alleging-russian-operation-cultivate-donald-trump/
Within hours of that piece, NYTimes posts article, sourced from the FBI claiming no evidence of Russian ties:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html
Meanwhile the FBI is literally trying to pay Steele for info?

This is why none of this got enough traction during the campaign.

10/26/2017 10:48:08 AM

why are we still focused on Hillary?

ISIS is coming and the US may push for new North Korea Sanctions

10/26/2017 10:57:32 AM

The rightwing media machine is far more influential and greater at creating narratives and stories then the liberal media is..

10/26/2017 11:48:34 AM

^^^I think you may be mislead by the phrasing. The article you're talking about from the NY Times, I believe, is this: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html

In which it says:

Quote :

"Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. "

That's not the same as saying there is no evidence. What it really says is they have not SO FAR found any CONCLUSIVE or DIRECT LINK. But that was quite early in the process and we also don't know which law enforcement officials were referenced in the article, that is, whether anyone with clearance and eyes on the information was quoted or someone else just working at the FBI (or elsewhere).

But ultimately, the reason it never gained traction is that nothing was reported of substance before then (rightfully so) because there was an ongoing CI investigation and you don't want to let people know that. There was later reporting that even spoke about this as they were concerned that people who were under investigation would change their activities and methods of communication if it ever came out.

Aside from that, there were plenty of stories that were enough to cause concern for rational voters (many of which are linked in dtownral's Russia-Trump Connections thread. It didn't gain traction for a variety of reasons.

^



[Edited on October 26, 2017 at 2:18 PM. Reason : a]

10/26/2017 2:10:00 PM

A) I'm pretty sure our links are the same article, except I posted the mobile link by accident

B) yes I understand the careful language in the article. Now, you should take a time machine back to November 2016 and pay careful attention to how that article was used as a wet blanket on every single incidence of "smoke" related to the Trump-Russia dumpster fire. On the very first page of the Trump-Russia thread JCE2011 posted a derivative article that uses the same language (same source article). You immediately chided him on the carefulness of the language contained in the article then too. JCE was a clown, but he was a clown highly in tune with the right-wing excuse machine. That article was plastered everywhere and hung over all reporting on the subject for months (the reality is the article only needed to seem legit for the 8 days before the election).

C) the Trump-Russia thread wasn't created until Feb 2017, so I think suggesting informed people were in the know in November 2016 is unrealistic. In fact the subject was being poo-pooed on this board (pretty liberal place compared to the rest of the nation) even through Feb 2017. Just look at how careful dtownral felt he needed to be in the OG post by labeling what was facts vs. what were claims, just to ensure the thread would be taken seriously.

That article is exhibit A on the dereliction of both the FBI and our media ecosystem.

10/26/2017 6:10:18 PM

A - Missed that, gotcha.
B - I follow this stuff as one of my interests so I've been paying attention for a long time which is probably why I noticed all of the other articles over the months (which def would have lead me to chiding JCE).

C -

Quote :

" I think suggesting informed people were in the know in November 2016 is unrealistic"

- I'd argue informed people were in the know, making them informed. But I think I get what you're saying here and that's the average person.

Not following you on dereliction of the FBI but I can somewhat agree on the media ecosystem.

10/26/2017 6:16:49 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/27/politics/washington-free-beacon-fusion-gps/index.html

10/27/2017 8:27:05 PM

I know this is beating a dead horse, but it has just been unbelievable how quickly this spread across RW media and how hard they are hammering it right now. FoxNews, the Trump administration, even the WSJ are basically just "lock her up" chants right now.

10/29/2017 11:27:51 AM

Yea they're pushing it hard. It's going to be interesting to see how much more aggressive they go once they know who is being arrested tomorrow.

10/29/2017 11:33:21 AM

They are incredible at creating and driving home a narrative..

10/29/2017 11:34:15 AM

I see ppl calling it the Clinton-obama dossier— how is obama getting dragged into this

10/29/2017 11:44:57 AM

^probably just to ensure they capture both the Clinton and Obama derangement syndrome demographics, even though the overlap is pretty significant.

What's really concerning is what comes next. People just eat some of this bullshit up. Surely some of these media pushing it have to give up at some point? Right?

10/29/2017 11:56:55 AM