Brian Fallon, press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, said he wished he had helped the author of the so-called “Trump dossier,” after it was revealed Tuesday that Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research for the dossier that contained scandalous material connecting President Trump to Russia.
“I regret I didnt know about Christopher Steele’s hiring pre-election,” Fallon tweeted Tuesday night. “If I had, I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him.”
I regret I didnt know about Christopher Steele’s hiring pre-election. If I had, I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) October 25, 2017
Fusion GPS, a Washington opposition research firm, was hired by the Clinton campaign and DNC lawyer Mark Elias to oversee the research, the Washington Post reported citing unnamed sources. Fusion GPS then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who wrote the dossier.
The dossier came to light publicly after it was published in full by Buzzfeed in January, but Fallon said he would have tried to convince Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, and John Podesta, chairman of Clinton’s campaign, to share it at a press conference.
“If I’d gotten his dossier before Nov 8, I may have tried to convince Mook & Podesta to let me hold a Comey-style press conference to read it,” he tweeted.
If I’d gotten his dossier before Nov 8, I may have tried to convince Mook & Podesta to let me hold a Comey-style press conference to read it
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) October 25, 2017
Elias and Perkins Coie, Elias’ law firm, hired Fusion GPS in April 2016 to do research for the Clinton campaign and the DNC. Fusion GPS had already been conducting research on Trump during the Republican primaries, funded by an unknown Republican client.
Fallon also tweeted that although he was unsure how Fusion GPS and Steele were financially compensated, that if the dossier assists special counsel Robert Mueller, who is conducting a probe to determine if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, the money was “well spent.”
Some aspects of the dossier — like communications between foreign nationals noted in the dossier — have been confirmed by officials; however, the majority of the scandalous allegations included in the document have not been verified.
The Clinton campaign and the DNC financed Fusion GPS’s research up until just days before the Nov. 8 election, according to the Post report.
