Senator Want Federal Charges Against “Trump Dossier” Author Christopher Steele

How far will it go: Hopefully end with legal opinion: “No can do”

Update (January 5, 2018) on the following story here in part from the NY Times with this introduction:

WASHINGTON — More than a year after Republican leaders promised to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election, two influential Republicans on Friday made the first known congressional criminal referral in connection with the meddling — against one of the people who sought to expose it.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a senior GOP committee member, told the DOJ they had reason to believe that a former British spy, Christopher Steele, lied to federal authorities about his contacts with reporters regarding information in the dossier, and they urged the department to investigate. 

The committee is running one of three congressional investigations into Russian election meddling, and its inquiry has come to focus, in part, on Mr. Steele’s explosive dossier that purported to detail Russia’s interference and the Trump campaign’s complicity.

The DOJ had no immediate comment on the criminal referral request from those two Senators.  

Fusion characterizes the recommendation to charge Mr. Steele as a smear and an attempt to further muddy the inquiry into Russia’s interference, with Fusion attorney Joshua A. Levy saying in part: “Publicizing a criminal referral based on classified information raises serious questions about whether this letter is nothing more than another attempt to discredit government sources, in the midst of an ongoing criminal investigation. We should all be skeptical in the extreme.”

Mr. Grassley is overseeing an array of inquiries related to the FBI and its investigations of both Mrs. Clinton and the Trump campaign. He and Mr. Graham have repeatedly pressed the agency on its handling of the dossier in particular and fought to gain access to key agency witnesses and documents about the matter, reviewing a large tranche of such material in recent weeks.

Fusion GPS hired Mr. Steele who had deep connections in Russia, during the spring of 2016 to research Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia. His findings were ultimately compiled into 35 pages of memos outlining a multipronged conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign to boost his candidacy and hurt Mrs. Clinton, including corrupt business dealings and salacious details alleging an encounter between Mr. Trump and Russian prostitutes.

Key part the GOP often skips over, and I say, by careful design and purpose is this:

Fusion GPS was first hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website for opposition research (Oppo) on Trump in May 2016 during the GOP campaign, the work was later funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign after Trump became the GOP candidate.

What follows below is the so-called “Trump-Russian Dossier” issue/background, etc.

Background: A lawyer representing the Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, as well as the DNC, helped fund research for the controversial dossier about President Trump's alleged connections to Russia as reported by The Washington Post. 

The report says that Marc Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS in April 2016 to continue investigating Trump's background where the Washington Beacon ended after the GOP primaries concluded.

Critical Note: As stated above, the conservative network, The Washington Beacon was reported on this way, by CNN here. Also, noteworthy is the fact that Fusion GPS is a private research firm co-founded by former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson in 2011.

In the past, that firm also did Oppo on Republicans including Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential bid.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC funded the firm's efforts through the end of October 2016, days before Election Day, according to The Washington Post. Sources therein told the paper that Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI, after Elias and his law firm Perkins-Coie retained Fusion GPS to gather Oppo on Trump.

The DNC issued a statement saying that the new leadership of the DNC was not involved in any decision-making regarding Fusion GPS, nor were they aware that Perkins-Coie was working with the organization. The dossier created by Fusion GPS contains salacious and unverified allegations against Trump. 

The 35-page document reportedly circulated around Washington for months before it was published in its entirety by Buzz Feed in January.

Mr. Steele was reportedly interviewed about the dossier over the summer by special counsel Robert Mueller as part of the federal investigation into ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia during last year's election. Further, in August, an attorney for Fusion GPS said that the firm is “proud of the claims in the dossier and stands by the reporting.” 

Trump in true form tweeted: “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?”  

Then WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders cast blame on Russia and Democrats for the “phony dossier” saying without an ounce of proof: “The Democrat-linked firm Fusion GPS actually took money from the Russian government while it created the phony dossier that’s been the basis for all of the Russia scandal fake news.”  

Then House Republicans attempted to force Fusion GPS to identify who paid the firm, but the firm has objected, citing confidentiality for its clients.

Related to this last part (release of info would violate Fusion GPS’ First Amendment rights from Politico here in summary:

A federal judge overseeing a legal dispute between Fusion GPS and the House Intelligence Committee suggested Thursday that forcing the private investigation firm to identify more of its clients and vendors wouldn’t run afoul of the First Amendment.

Then U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon repeatedly noted that data the intelligence panel is seeking from Fusion’s bank as part of the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election would reflect only the names of those who exchanged funds with Fusion and the amounts of those transactions, but would not reveal the substance of what the firm did and he concluded: “It would be clients and vendors and the amount, but not what the work was for.” 

*But, Judge Leon at the same time issued no immediate ruling.

Fusion GPS also asked the court to block or narrow a subpoena the House Intelligence Committee issued to the firm’s bank account. Fusion GPS lawyer, Stephen Salky argued that letting the panel pry further into the records would intrude on the firm’s right to associate anonymously with individuals and organizations engaged in First Amendment activity, adding: “The very dossier was about political speech and was about investigating one candidate for the presidency on behalf of another candidate for the presidency. If that's not in the heartland of the First Amendment, the work that was done, I don't know what is.”

My input about this: First of all, we need to cut through the dare I say the word, “Fake News” from the rightwing (like via FOX, et al) and say simply Oppo is not uncommon or unheard of in politics, not unusual in any way.

Directly related to this aspect (not uncommon and who leaked or not to whom or not, etc.):

Headlines: “The Opposition Research (Oppo) Firm (Fusion GPS) Behind the Trump-Russia Dossier Says It Didn't Give It to Buzz Feed (For Publication)”

Further, Oppo means in clear terms that someone is tasked to look for any “dirt on a political opponent or opposition political party or other opposition entity.

The information gathered may or may not be of any real value to either side seeking it.

Funding goes to hiring the agency or firm or person to do the Oppo – not the specifics in general terms of who they are, etc.

This is not over yet – Mueller apparently has more info the public does not yet know… the dossier may be very valid and critical or not. Time will tell, so stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.