One of the co-founders of Fusion GPS, the company responsible for the creation of most of the infamous “Trump Dossier,” has agreed to interview with the House Intelligence Committee next week, which could temporarily avert a subpoena showdown between the two.
Glenn Simpson already interviewed for several hours with the Senate Intelligence Committee in August.
The dossier is also sometimes called the “Russia dossier” or “Steele dossier” because of its content and the fact that Fusion GPS paid former British spy Christopher Steele to assemble its contents. The document was making news behind the scenes in late 2016 before Election Day, even though the public was unaware that it existed. It contains pages of allegations about Trump, his associates, and allegations of activities in Russia.
Not long after the election, the FBI briefed then-President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump about the dossier’s contents. In January, BuzzFeed published the full document.
The wildest claims in the dossier have been called “salacious” and political debates continue to be fought over what portions of the claims in the document might be verified. Republicans have been especially concerned the dossier could have been one the instigating items that launched the several Russia probes that have enveloped D.C. in the critical first year of the Trump presidency.
Fusion’s attorney, Josh Levy, suggested House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had been an obstacle to their participation.
Nunes, even though he has stepped aside from directing the committee’s Russia investigation, has been leading the charge to get more information on how the dossier was compiled and how it might have been used early on by American intelligence agencies.
“We are pleased to announce that the House Intelligence Committee, under the signatures of Mr. Conaway and Mr. Schiff, has agreed to withdraw Mr. Nunes’ subpoena served on Mr. Simpson. Mr. Simpson will instead sit for a voluntary interview next week, and nothing will be said at that interview — per the agreement of Mr. Conaway and Mr. Schiff — that shall interfere with Mr. Simpson’s ability to assert privileges in this investigation,” Levy said in a statement obtained by Politico. “We are pleased that reason ruled the day, so that we can move forward.”
Fusion GPS and the House Intelligence Committee have been locked in a court battle recently over subpoenas from the committee seeking the company’s bank records.
In early October, Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., expressed frustration that the committee in the upper chamber had tried on numerous occasions to speak with Steele, but had made no progress.
