RUSSIA DOSSIER BID
Trump slams Dems’ effort to dig up dirt as ‘disgrace’
President Trump called it a “disgrace” that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund the operation that resulted in an infamous Russia dossier — as Republicans sought to flip the script on the ongoing scandal and put the Dems on the hot seat.
“I have to say, the whole Russian thing is what it’s turned out to be,” Trump told reporters. “This was the Democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election . ... They lost it. They lost it very badly and very easily.
“I think it’s very sad what they’ve done with this fake dossier,” Trump added. “I think it’s a disgrace . ... It’s a very sad commentary on politics in this country.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Marc Elias, an attorney for the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a firm that had already been hired by an unknown Republican during the 2016 presidential primary, to dig up dirt on Trump’s Russia dealings.
After the Clinton lawyer tapped Fusion GPS in April 2016, the firm hired Christopher Steele, a former British spy, who went on to author the controversial Russia dossier, alleging the Kremlin had collected enough dirt on Trump to blackmail him if he became president, the Post reported. Trump has staunchly denied the allegations in the dossier, and the more lurid accusations, published by BuzzFeed earlier this year, have never been independently proven.
GOP leaders seized on the revelations to mount a counteroffensive. The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for Fusion GPS’ banking records, and a judge has given the firm until today to reach an agreement, Reuters reported.
And on another front, a Washington-based watchdog group, Campaign Legal Center, filed a complaint yesterday with the Federal Election Commission saying the Clinton campaign and the DNC violated campaign finance law by failing to properly disclose payments for the dossier on Trump.
Republican operative Dave Carney pointed to two New York Times reporters who accused the Clinton campaign and DNC on Twitter of lying to them and denying their involvement in the dossier during the 2016 election.
Carney also accused the Clinton campaign and DNC of misleading the FEC by reporting their expenditures with Fusion GPS as “legal” and “compliance consulting” fees, rather than research.
“It shows you how devoid of any real strategy or adult leadership that campaign had,” Carney said.
He also said he thinks the FBI and ousted director James Comey will come under new fire about why they agreed to pay Steele to continue researching after the election — although the agency never actually paid Steele after news reports surfaced about his involvement.
“You’d think the FBI would have better access to research than hiring a freelancer out of London who had a sketchy background,” Carney said.
Democratic strategist Matt Bennett conceded that the Russia dossier features “a little more of a James Bond flair to it than your typical oppo research,” but noted it’s not illegal to hire a foreign agent to conduct research, as it is to accept foreign campaign contributions.
But what’s unusual, Bennett said, is that opposition research that began with an unknown Republican in the primaries ended up in the hands of the Democratic general election challenger.
“Usually the losers in the primaries get in line behind the nominee,” said Bennett. “But in the case of Trump, the losers in the primary believed Trump would be a catastrophe.”