Dossier link to Russians

Tie to T. Tower meet

One of the founders of the research firm behind the controversial dossier on now-President Trump met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer before and after the attorney sat down with Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016, it was reported Tuesday.

Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and cofounder of Fusion GPS, was with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in a Manhattan federal courtroom just hours before the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, Fox News reported.

Simpson huddled with her again after the meeting, the network said.

Veselnitskaya, promising dirt on Hillary Clinton, secured a sitdown with Donald Trump Jr. and other Trump campaign operatives — including Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Trump Jr. later said the discussion was about Russian adoptions.

But the meeting took place at a critical time — when Fusion GPS was being paid by a Russian oli- garch and by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to dig up damaging information about Trump.

The report said the new disclosure raises more questions about what role the firm played in the presidential election.

Simpson and Fusion GPS were hired by the law firm BakerHostetler, which represented the Russian firm Prevezon through Veselnitskaya, the report said.

Prevezon, a holding company based in Cyprus, is owned by Moscow businessman Denis Katsyv.

Veselnitskaya was in federal court on June 9, 2016, representing Prevezon after it was sued by the Manhattan US attorney in a money-laundering case, according to news accounts.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into the Trump Tower meeting as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the US election.

Some GOP lawmakers have raised questions about Fusion GPS after it was revealed the Clinton campaign paid for the research in the dossier, which contained unverified claims that Trump had links to Russian officials.

The dossier also contributed in part to the FBI’s initial investigation into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign.

The Washington Free Beacon, with the financial backing of Republican donor Paul Singer, initially contracted with Fusion GPS in September 2015 for opposition research about Trump.

But it stopped paying the firm in April 2016 when it became apparent Trump would win the Republican nomination.

That’s when the Clinton cam- paign and DNC stepped in to pick up the contract, through the law firm Perkins Coie.

Lawyers for Fusion GPS and Veselnitskaya did not respond to requests for comment.