Donald Trump hits out amid reports Hillary Clinton campaign 'helped fund research behind Russia dossier'

Hillary Clinton's campaign reportedly helped fund research into Donald Trump
REUTERS

Donald Trump has hit out after reports that Hilary Clinton’s team bankrolled a sleazy dossier of allegations linking him to Russia.

Former British spy Christopher Steele compiled the so-called ‘golden showers’ dossier on the future president’s ties to the nation.

The dossier, which circulated in Washington last year and was turned over to the FBI for its review, contends that Russia was engaged in a longstanding effort to aid Mr Trump.

Responding to reports that Clinton’s team paid for the research, the US leader wrote on Twitter: “The victim here is the President."

The dossier became subject to congressional probes into alleged Russian interference in the US election.

Mr Trump has repeatedly dismissed the documents as "fake news" and in recent days has questioned on Twitter whether Democrats or the FBI had helped fund it.

He had also previously suggested it was funded by political opponents.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted on Tuesday: "The real Russia scandal? Clinton campaign paid for the fake Russia dossier, then lied about it & covered it up."

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Marc Elias, a lawyer for the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), brokered a deal with a political research firm called Fusion GPS to conduct the research.

Fusions GPS is then reported to have employed Mr Steele to produce the dossier. It is not known how much Fusion GPS was paid for the alleged work.

The deal was struck in spring last year and last until just before election day.

When Fusion approached Mr Elias, it had already been doing research work on Mr Trump for an unnamed client during the Republican primary.

It is not clear what the research firm had unearthed by the time law firm hired them in April 2016.

The earliest report from Mr Steele dates to June 2016, two months later, according to a copy of the dossier published by BuzzFeed last year.

The copy contained lurid but unsubstantiated details about Mr Trump's alleged “perverted conduct”, including extraordinary claims prostitutes performed a fetish act on him in 2013 at Russian capital's Ritz Carlton Hotel. Moscow denied possessing compromising material on Mr Trump.

Some material in the reports produced by the former British intelligence officer has since proved to be wrong, according to US officials, though most of his past work is considered to be credible.

Returning to work: Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele who compiled a dossier on Donald Trump
PA

Intelligence officers briefed the Republican and then president Barack Obama about the contents of the document in January after it began circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and government officials.

After reports of the dossier emerged, Mr Trump branded them "fake news" and bemoaned a "political witch hunt".

It is also unclear how much money Fusion was paid or how many others in the Clinton campaign or DNC were aware that the firm had been retained.

A DNC spokeswoman said chairman Tom Perez had not been involved in the decision-making and was unaware that Mr Elias's law firm Perkins Coie was working with Fusion GPS.

"But let's be clear, there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened," the statement said.

Mr Elias did not immediately respond to a request for comment and Fusion GPS declined to comment.

Ms Clinton has not commented.

Former Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said he regretted not knowing about Mr Steele's being hired before the election.

He said he would have "volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him" had he known.

"I have no idea what Fusion or Steele were paid but if even a shred of that dossier ends up helping Mueller, it will prove money well spent," he tweeted.

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