Klein: Disclosures Raise Questions About Whether DNC and Clinton Cash Paid Russian Agents Cited in Anti-Trump Dossier
by AARON KLEIN
BreitBart.com
30 Oct 2017
New York, NY — There are legitimate questions about whether money from the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) found its way into the hands of former and possibly current members of the Russian government as well as the Kremlin’s intelligence services cited as “sources” in the infamous, largely discredited 35-page dossier on President Donald Trump.
The questions follow the disclosure that the DNC and Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign funded research utilized in the anti-Trump dossier.
It also follows a previous disclosure from former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, who currently works at the Hillary Clinton-tied Beacon Global Strategies LLC, who revealed that he “learned” dossier author Christopher Steele paid some of the purported sources cited in the dossier.
The Washington Post last Tuesday reported that in April 2016, attorney Marc E. Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained Fusion GPS to conduct the questionable research on behalf of both the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Through Perkins Coie, Clinton’s campaign and the DNC continued to fund Fusion GPS until October 2016, days before Election Day, the Post reported.
Fusion GPS went on to hire Steele, a former intelligence agent, to do the purported research. Steele later conceded in court documents that part of his work still needed to be verified.
While it is not clear how much the Clinton campaign or the DNC paid Fusion GPS, the UK Independent, citing campaign finance records, reported that the Clinton campaign doled out $5.6 million to Perkins Coie from June 2015 to December 2016. Records show that since November 2015, the DNC paid the law firm $3.6 million in “legal and compliance consulting.”
Morell previously disclosed that he “learned” Steele paid some of the “sources” quoted in the dossier.
Morell serves as senior counselor at Beacon Strategies. Beacon was founded by Phillippe Reines, who served as Communications Adviser to Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state. From 2009-2013, Reines also served in Clinton’s State Department as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications. Reines is the managing director of Beacon.
NBC News previously reported on comments made by Morell at an event last march sponsored by the Cipher Brief intelligence website. Those comments take on renewed significance in light of the disclosures about the origins of Fusion GPS’s funding of the controversial dossier.
“I had two questions when I first read it,” Morell stated of Steele’s dossier for Fusion GPS. “One was, How did Chris talk to these sources? I have subsequently learned that he used intermediaries.”
The Rest…HERE
