Conservative Website Was First To Fund Steele’s Trump Russia Dossier
Washington Free Beacon was the original funder of the Trump dossier.
The Washington Free Beacon was the first to fund the Steele dossier which details the vast connections between the Donald Trump and Russia.
The Washington Free Beacon is a conservative website funded in large part by New York hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer.
According to a report by the Washington Examiner, the website was first to retain the opposition research firm Fusion GPS. However, in May of 2016 as Trump was closing in on the Republican nomination they asked Fusion GPS to stop working on it.
The funding of the dossier by the Washington Free Beacon was also revealed to the House Intelligence Committee on Friday.
In April 2016 a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign hired Fusion GPS to continue their research on Donald Trump.
“Representatives of the Free Beacon approached the House Intelligence Committee today and offered to answer what questions we can in their ongoing probe of Fusion GPS and the Steele dossier,” the publication’s Editor in Chief Matthew Continetti and Chairman Michael Goldfarb said in a statement.
“The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele.”
The dossier, which details significant connections between Trump and Russia, was first published by BuzzFeed News in January.
