The Washington Free Beacon did not bankroll the Steele dossier, a highly dubious work of opposition research alleging the Russians have compromising personal and financial information on Donald Trump.
Rather, the conservative newsroom hired the same research firm that later created it, Fusion GPS, in 2016 to investigate Trump and other Republican candidates during the GOP primaries.
After Trump had won the nomination, the Free Beacon dropped the project. It was at that point that Democratic operatives swooped in, bringing along with them former British spy Christopher Steele. It is from Steele’s work that we get all this Russia business.
To reiterate, the Free Beacon had nothing to do with Steele or his work on the dossier.
“The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele,” the group’s top brass said in a statement. “Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign.”
For some reason, though, media keep claiming incorrectly that the Free Beacon (“Republicans”) initially funded the Russia file.
CNN’s chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, for example, said specifically last Friday that the Steele dossier was “initially paid for by Republicans.”
After he caught flack for this inaccuracy, the former Obama-appointed State Department official responded by tweeting, “Free Beacon was first to hire Fusion GPS to do opposition research on then-candidate Trump.”
At MSNBC, host Katy Tur said in a since-deleted tweet, “Another reminder — Steele Dossier was first paid for by conservative outlet Washington Free Beacon to find damaging info about Trump during the primary in order to help other GOP candidates. REMEMBER — the GOP DID NOT WANT Trump to win the nomination.”
She added later in a note of correction, “Fusion GPS was first hired by Washington Free Beacon during the primaries when GOP wanted to help other GOP candidates. Steele was hired later when DNC hired them.”
CBS News’ Alex Wagner meanwhile tweeted, “Also, perhaps one reason the FBI labeled the Steele dossier as ‘politically motivated’ w/o mentioning which party is b/c both conservatives (the Washington Free Beacon) AND Democrats (DNC) were involved in its funding.”
The Associated Press even published a report this weekend claiming, “Steele’s opposition research effort was initially funded by the conservative Washington Free Beacon.” The AP corrected the story later, noting that, “Though the former spy, Christopher Steele, was hired by a firm that was initially funded by the Washington Free Beacon, he did not begin work on the project until after Democratic groups had begun funding it.”
Once more, for good measure: The Free Beacon didn’t initially fund the Steele dossier. They had nothing to do with the former spy’s work. Steel was funded 100 percent by Democratic operatives.
