Christopher Steele, a former British Intelligence officer who works for a private security firm, produced the dossier about President-elect Trump that contained unverified allegations about reported ties to Russia, according to a new report.
Steele, who is a director of Orbis Business Intelligence, a London-based private security firm, prepared the dossier, which has come under fire from the president-elect and his allies since BuzzFeed News published it Tuesday. The dossier alleges that the Russian government has evidence that could compromise Trump and leave him open to blackmail, and that members of the president-elect’s team met with Kremlin officials during the campaign.
When reached multiple times for interview requests by the Wall Street Journal through an intermediary, Steele declined, saying that the topic was “too hot.” Christopher Burrows, who is one of two directors of the firm, along with Steele, would not “confirm or deny” that the firm produced the dossier, which Trump slammed during his highly-anticipated press conference on Wednesday.
“I think it’s a disgrace that information would be let out,” Trump said. “I saw the information; I read the information outside of that meeting. It’s all fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen. And it was gotten by opponents of ours, as you know, because you reported it and so did many of the other people. It was a group of opponents that got together — sick people — and they put that crap together.”
“So, I will tell you that not within the meeting, but outside of the meeting, somebody released it. It should have never been — number one, shouldn’t have even entered paper,” Trump said. “But it should have never have been released. But I read what was released and I think it’s a disgrace. I think it’s an absolute disgrace.”
The president-elect also called BuzzFeed News a “failing pile of garbage” after they released the information.
The dossier also alleged that a top lawyer for the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, travelled to the Czech Republic to meet with Kremlin officials, a claim Cohen has vociferously denied.
