Fusion GPS Founders Just Dropped A Bomb On Trump And Republicans
The founders of the research firm behind the Russia dossier just revealed what they told Congress.
Fusion GPS founders Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch just published a bombshell op-ed in The New York Times detailing exactly what they told Congressional committees investigating the Russia case.
Here are some of the most important revelations we got from the New York Times piece:
Fusion GPS wants Congress to publish the transcript of their testimony, Republicans are blocking it.
“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,” the Fusion GPS founders note.
The FBI didn’t open its investigation of the Trump campaign because of the Steele dossier
“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.
Fusion GPS gave Congress banking records of Trump’s connection to Russians
The Fusion GPS founders have pointed Congress to Trump banking records that connect him with Russia.
“We suggested investigators look into the bank records of Deutsche Bank and others that were funding Mr. Trump’s businesses. Congress appears uninterested in that tip: Reportedly, ours are the only bank records the House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed,” they say.
“We told Congress that from Manhattan to Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., and from Toronto to Panama, we found widespread evidence that Mr. Trump and his organization had worked with a wide array of dubious Russians in arrangements that often raised questions about money laundering. Likewise, those deals don’t seem to interest Congress.”
Paul Manafort’s deep Russia ties were long known
“We explained how, from our past journalistic work in Europe, we were deeply familiar with the political operative Paul Manafort’s coziness with Moscow and his financial ties to Russian oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin,” the founders wrote.
Fusion GPS founders were “shocked” by what Christopher Steele found.
Yes, we hired Mr. Steele, a highly respected Russia expert. But we did so without informing him whom we were working for and gave him no specific marching orders beyond this basic question: Why did Mr. Trump repeatedly seek to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun?
What came back shocked us. Mr. Steele’s sources in Russia (who were not paid) reported on an extensive — and now confirmed — effort by the Kremlin to help elect Mr. Trump president. Mr. Steele saw this as a crime in progress and decided he needed to report it to the F.B.I.
Read the full op-ed by the Fusion GPS founders here.
[image via screenshot]
