In light of a recently released august testimony that was given to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Glenn Simpson, co-founder of the research firm Fusion GPS, said it “makes sense” that the FBI paid for a trip to Rome taken by Christopher Steele. The person in question, Steele, a former British spy, was contracted by the company to produce the highly controversial and mostly discredited anti-Trump dossier. Steele’s false dossier has been reported as being a part of the basis upon which the FBI launched its investigation into President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, citing collusion with Russian officials, as reported by Breitbart.
The unsubstantiated claims from the highly controversial opposition research Fusion GPS regarding the alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign are currently being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. President Trump recently said he is “eager” to meet with Mueller before he wraps up his investigation.
According to the report, Fusion GPS hired Steele to the work which has been cited in the anti-Trump dossier. In July, Steele traveled to Rome where he rendezvoused with an FBI contact to hand over information that led to the crafting of the dossier, as reported in testimony.
The Senate testimony shows that the original outreach to the FBI was, “something that Chris took on on his own,” Simpson said. He claims his company, Fusion GPS, did not pay for Steele’s trip to Rome, but that the expenses from the trip may have been reimbursed by the FBI. “I don’t think we did,” Simpson stated, regarding his company paying for Steele’s travel to Rome to with an FBI contact. “I have no information that we paid for it,” he added.
Simpson was asked by the Senate committee, “Do you know who paid for Mr. Steele’s trip to Rome to meet with the FBI?” He explained, “I have read recently – I think in a letter from Senator Grassley that the FBI reimbursed the expense.” In March, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) requested information from the FBI regarding their ties to Steele and the agency’s involvement in the creation of the dossier.
Simpson also inferred that the origin Steele’s travel to Rome was unclear. He stated, “I considered to be something that Chris took on on his own based on his professional obligations and not something that was part of my project.” He continued by saying, “So it makes sense to me that he was reimbursed by them [FBI].”
In a report from the Washington Post, Steele was said to have, “reached an agreement with the FBI a few weeks before the election for the bureau to pay him to continue his work, according to several people familiar with the arrangement.” It has become apparent that Steele was not hired directly as an FBI informant, but it is still unclear how much the former spy was paid and for how long the payments lasted.
Since its inception, the dossier has been subject to congressional inquiries, a vast number of media stories, and a strong denial from the White House. Many theories regarding an alleged shadow government have come to light, even narratives of some attempting to overthrow the Trump Administration. Spurred on by questions from the committee, Joshua Levy, an attorney for Fusion GPS, stated, “Somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work,” according to a Fox News report. This was in reference to an ex-KGB agent mysteriously found dead in his car in Moscow last year.
Moreover, it is important to note that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) funded the project through October 2016, just weeks before the election. International law firm Perkins Coie was also hired by Fusion GPS and was paid $9 million, but the amount of funds going towards the crafting of the dossier is currently unclear.