BRITAIN/INTELLIGENCE/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The retired British spy who wrote an explosive dossier about President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia broke his silence to criticize Trump and the ‘distorted’ state of US politics. The former spy, Christopher Steele, wrote to Vanity Fair shortly after he was named to the magazine’s ‘2018 New Establishment List.’ CNN reviewed a copy of Steele’s email, which included his most political comments since his dossier gained international attention in January 2017…The ex-spy also lamented that due to ‘the present legal and political situation,’ he could not attend a Vanity Fair summit in Los Angeles featuring many of the newsmakers on the list. Despite global intrigue with his story, Steele has avoided public events out of fear for his safety..An official from Steele’s private intelligence firm in London confirmed to CNN that Steele sent the email to Vanity Fair. Representatives from Vanity Fair did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Wednesday. The winding saga of Steele and his dossier dates to the 2016 presidential campaign, when a law firm working for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton hired an opposition research company named Fusion GPS to dig up dirt about Trump. Fusion GPS then hired Steele, who tapped his sources in Russia to gather information about Trump’s ties to the country.”
–Marshall Cohen, “Russia dossier author criticizes Trump, slams ‘strange and troubling times’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, October 10, 2018 1:42 am