Firm That Funded Trump Dossier Urges Congress To Release Testimony

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 21: View of the distinctive US Capitol dome from an arch on the Senate side of the structure, on March 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. The dome is 180 feet, 3 inches high. The rotunda is visited by... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 21: View of the distinctive US Capitol dome from an arch on the Senate side of the structure, on March 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. The dome is 180 feet, 3 inches high. The rotunda is visited by thousands of people every day. The Capitol was built in the distinctive neoclassical style. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960. (Photo by Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor MORE LESS
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The founders of Fusion GPS, the firm that compiled the dossier alleging ties between Donald Trump and Russia, urged Congress to release their testimony about the dossier to the public in an op-ed published by the New York Times Tuesday night.

“Republicans have refused to release full transcripts of our firm’s testimony, even as they selectively leak details to media outlets on the far right. It’s time to share what our company told investigators,” Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch wrote in the op-ed.

They accused conservatives of pushing “mendacious conspiracy theories” about the dossier and Fusion GPS’ motives for compiling it.

As special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe has intensified, Republicans in Congress have increasingly focused on the Trump dossier and some conservatives have claimed that the dossier was the impetus for the Russia probe. A group of GOP members on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA), are reportedly running a probe into the Justice Department’s handling of the dossier, and GOP lawmakers have called for a special counsel to investigate the FBI’s approach with the dossier. Some Republicans in Congress also now believe that the dossier was part of Russia’s disinformation campaign during the presidential election, per the Washington Examiner.

In their op-ed, Simpson and Fritsch pushed back on allegations that the dossier was the catalyst for the Russia probe. They wrote that the dossier was not as central to the FBI’s investigation as some Republicans have claimed and that the firm has been unfairly maligned by Trump’s allies.

“We don’t believe the Steele dossier was the trigger for the F.B.I.’s investigation into Russian meddling. As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp,” they wrote.

“The intelligence committees have known for months that credible allegations of collusion between the Trump camp and Russia were pouring in from independent sources during the campaign,” the continued. “Yet lawmakers in the thrall of the president continue to wage a cynical campaign to portray us as the unwitting victims of Kremlin disinformation.”

Read the full New York Times op-ed here.

 

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