A top former FBI and White House cybersecurity official is working to verify aspects of the controversial Trump-Russia dossier for BuzzFeed as part of the news outlet’s legal defense to lawsuits brought against it for publishing the document in the wake of the 2016 election, according to a report.
Anthony Ferrante, now a consultant for business advisory firm FTI, was hired by BuzzFeed to substantiate sections of the dossier, because “if it’s fact, it’s not libel,” a source told Foreign Policy.
Ferrante’s investigation is similar to that of special counsel Robert Mueller’s, the main difference being any evidence heard through BuzzFeed’s court case would be the first public disclosure about the dossier’s veracity.
Prior to joining FTI in April, Ferrante’s last post was as director of cyber incident response for the Trump administration’s National Security Council. He had earlier been tasked with organizing the Obama administration’s strategy to combat Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
BuzzFeed is being sued by Russian technology executive Aleksej Gubarev and Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, over its publication of the dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele, funded in part by the Democratic National Convention and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, in January 2017.
BuzzFeed’s attorneys initially engaged FTI to confirm the segments of the document referring to Gubarev, including claims servers belonging to his company were used to hack the DNC, but the scope of the probe has since expanded, according to FP.
Ferrante reportedly recommended BuzzFeed’s lawyers subpoena specific data and testimony from agencies and firms across the U.S. and has recruited a team dedicated to analyzing that information, sources told the magazine.
BuzzFeed, Ferrante, and FTI declined to comment to FP citing an ongoing investigation and pending litigation.
