10/25/2017

2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/HILLARY CLINTON/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA: “Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee were among those who paid a firm for research that led to a dossier of unverified allegations about President Donald Trump’s activities and connections in Russia, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Marc Elias, a partner at law firm Perkins Coie who was paid by both the campaign and the DNC, hired the research firm, Fusion GPS, in April 2016 and concluded the contract before the election, the person said.
Fusion GPS had been conducting research on Mr. Trump before then, funded by at least one Republican donor, according to a letter dated Tuesday from Perkins Coie to a Fusion lawyer that was filed in court on Tuesday. In March 2016, as the Republican presidential primary was winding down, Fusion GPS approached Perkins Coie about continuing the research. The firm hired Fusion GPS a month later to ‘perform a variety of research services,’ the letter said.
The letter describing the Clinton campaign and the DNC’s role was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday by Fusion GPS, which is fighting a subpoena of its banking records from congressional investigators seeking the identities of the donors who funded the firm’s research.”

-Rebecca Ballhaus, “Clinton Campaign, DNC Helped Fund Trump-Russia Dossier,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 25, 2017 10:43am