Details Trump collaboration
and ties to Russia
BY
President Trump got a rude reminder that his Russia-related
troubles are far from over. In fact, they could be heating back up.
Newsweek is reporting that
Glenn Simpson, the man whose firm oversaw the compilation of what came to be
known as the “Pee-Tape Dossier,” may soon testify in
public.
Simpson’s consultancy,
Fusion GPS, contracted former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele
to investigate Trump’s many Russian and Eastern European associates and past
business deals.
Fusion expected him to return with run of the mill opposition research. What Steele delivered was anything but run of the mill.
Fusion expected him to return with run of the mill opposition research. What Steele delivered was anything but run of the mill.
Steele’s dossier alleged that Trump colluded with Russian agents to undermine opponent Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. It also included lurid claims that the Russian government possessed compromising material on Trump, including a video of him getting Russian prostitutes to urinate on a Moscow hotel room bed on which Barack and Michelle Obama once slept.
The dossier has cast a
shadow over the entire Trump-Russia scandal. U.S. intelligence agencies
have known about the dossier since before President Trump took office, and it’s
been reported that the FBI has been using the dossier as a road map for its
own investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to
influence the 2016 election.
Continue for a more detailed chart showing Trump ties to Russia.
Continue for a more detailed chart showing Trump ties to Russia.
News of the dossier leaked
to the media during the transition, and while everyone reported its existence,
most outlets omitted the details of the seedy allegations contained in it.
Then Buzzfeed blew the walls off the story when they published a copy of it verbatim.
Then Buzzfeed blew the walls off the story when they published a copy of it verbatim.
Many aspects of the sordid
dossier have since been corroborated by reporting.
Much of it, however, remains unverified. Simpson testified in
closed door hearings before the Senate earlier this week, and his lawyers told
reporters they were “proud of the work” contained in the dossier, and that
Fusion “stands by it.”
Now there’s a push from all sides for Simpson’s testimony to be
released to the public. “Further details on what Simpson said have not been
disclosed,” Newsweek is
reporting,
“but that may soon change. Asked at a town hall in Iowa on Wednesday whether he would make Simpson’s testimony public, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a Republican, said he would take a vote of the committee members but he presumes it will be released.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal
(D-CT), another member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed Grassley’s
sentiments, but went even further.
“I certainly will vote to
make them public.” he told Morning Joe on MSNBC today. “But even more important, Glenn
Simpson should testify before the committee in the open, under oath.” Sen.
Blumenthal called on other figures in the Russia investigations, including
Donald Trump, Jr., to testify publicly as well.
Donald Trump is coming off one
of the worst stretches of his still nascent presidency. The last thing he needs is the public to refocus on
the Russia election hacking scandal. Sadly for him, that now appears to
be out of his control.