{"articles":[{"id":1311,"title":"DNC, Clinton Campaign Bankrolled Trump-Russia Dossier Research","html_content":"

by Causes | 10.25.17

What’s the story?

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During the 2016 presidential race, it emerged that there was a dossier linking Donald Trump to Moscow. The unproven dossier – which included the oft-mocked allegations that Trump had been filmed with Russian prostitutes – was published in full by BuzzFeed in January of last year.

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Now, the Washington Post is reporting that \"the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier.\"

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According to the Post, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and DNC contracted Washington firm Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump. Fusion GPS, in turn, hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy who worked in Russia, to compile the dossier.

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\"The victim here is the President,\" Trump tweeted early this morning.

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Why does it matter?

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One of the reasons it matters is because of the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

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The dossier was titled \"U.S. Presidential Election: Republican Candidate Donald Trump’s Activities In Russia And Compromising Relationship With The Kremlin.\" It opens with a summary, that begins: “Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting, and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and division in western alliance.”

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As the Post explained,

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\"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.\"
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This recent revelation led White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to tweet:

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The real Russia scandal? Clinton campaign paid for the fake Russia dossier, then lied about it & covered it up. https://t.co/kR8z2zsZ7Q
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) October 25, 2017\n

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The Post wrote that \"it is unclear how or how much of that information was shared with the campaign and the DNC and who in those organizations was aware of the roles of Fusion GPS and Steele.\"

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A DNC spokeswoman released a statement saying that the current DNC leadership were not involved in – or aware of – the Clinton campaign’s involvement with the dossier. \"But let’s be clear,\" the spokeswoman said, “there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened.”

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Brian Fallon, a former spokesman for the Clinton campaign, told the Post that he only became aware of the dossier after the election — but would’ have had no problem disseminating it earlier.

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\"Opposition research happens on every campaign, and here you had probably the most shadowy guy ever running for president, and the FBI certainly has seen fit to look into it.\"
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Prior the DNC and Clinton campaign becoming involved, Fusion GPS’s opposition research into Trump was bankrolled by an unknown Republican consulting firm, which pulled its funding after Trump secured the GOP nomination.

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Law firm Perkins Coie, and Fusion GPS, declined to comment.

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What do you think?

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Was the dossier \"opposition research\" or was it something more? Does this discredit the investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia? Hit Take Action, tell your reps how you want them moving forward on this matter, then tell your fellow citizens below.

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— Josh Herman

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Related Reading

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(Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

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