Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, called attention to an “important” story published Sunday evening related to the opposition research firm and author behind the infamous Trump dossier.
The Daily Caller reported on what it said was a dark money group based in California that gave $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, an organization that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to conduct research on President Trump.
In a tweet, Nunes stressed the report bore extra significance due to its timing. “This is actually important as we wait for the March 14 Steele and [Kramer] depositions to made public,” the California Republican said.
A federal judge overruled late last month the objections of both Steele and David Kramer, a longtime associate of John McCain and former State Department official, to make their depositions public. The pair gave testimony in a lawsuit brought against BuzzFeed in December 2018 by a Russian Internet entrepreneur. The depositions could be released as soon as March 14.
The organization to which Fund for a Better Future donated $2,065,000 in 2017 was founded on Jan. 31, 2017, by Daniel Jones, a former intelligence committee staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Last spring it was revealed that Jones told the FBI he hired Fusion GPS to push a narrative that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
Liberal billionaire George Soros has also given The Democracy Integrity Project $1 million.
The Democracy Integrity Project was created after the 2016 election and is dedicated to investigating election interference.
Published in full by BuzzFeed in January 2017, the Steele’s dossier contains a collection of salacious and unverified claims about Trump’s potentially compromising ties to Russia, including the claim that Trump hired prostitutes to urinate on bed in a hotel room in Russia where former President Barack Obama once stayed.
Republicans including Nunes have raised concerns about the dossier’s originals and how it was used by the FBI to obtain the authority to wiretap onetime Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly said Fund for a Better Future and George Soros donated $2 billion and $1 billion to TDIP respectfully. In fact, they gave $2 million and $1 million. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
