Clinton: ‘Most Serious People’ Understand Dossier Funding Was Legal

Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds celebration at the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Democrat Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds celebration at the Newseum in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
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Former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday defended Democrats and her campaign’s funding of an explosive, but still mostly unverified, dossier that alleged connections between President Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Appearing on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” Clinton claimed that “most serious people” would understand that the dossier was legal opposition research, and much different than allegations that the Trump campaign may have worked with Russians to influence the 2016 election.

I think most serious people understand that,” she said. “This was research started by a Republican donor during the Republican primary, and then when Trump got the nomination for the Republican Party, the people doing it came to my campaign lawyer. … He said ‘yes.’ He’s an experienced lawyer, he knows what the law is, he knows what opposition research is.”

Touching on the investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election, she called Trump “ambivalent” and said her former opponent “had to know” that people who were working for him were making contact with Russia.

We’ve never had an adversary who attacked us with so few consequences,” Clinton said. “He had to know that people were making outreach to Russians, to the highest levels of the Kremlin, in order to help him, to hurt me, but more importantly to sow this divisiveness.”

She defended herself and the Democratic National Committee further, saying it’s significant that the dossier didn’t come out during the election.

“And what also didn’t come out — which I think is an even bigger problem as I write in the book — is that the American people didn’t even know that the FBI was investigating the Trump campaign because of connections with Russia starting in the summer of 2016,” she said. “So I know that voters should have had that information. That’s something that may have influenced some people.”

The dossier, which was first published by BuzzFeed in January, outlines a case for collusion between Trump and the Russians. While the most salacious allegations in the dossier have not been verified by federal investigators, some of the information has been confirmed.

The research was originally funded by a Republican donor during the primaries and the Clinton campaign and the DNC began paying for it after Trump won the primary. 

Watch the interview below:

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