By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Fusion GPS, the research firm that funded the salacious and unsubstantiated “Steele dossier,” fired back at President Trump and his conservative allies, saying they are spinning “mendacious conspiracy theories” to distract from the substance of a serious special counsel probe.
Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, two former Wall Street Journal reporters who co-founded Fusion GPS in 2011, wrote a New York Times op-ed headlined “The Republicans’ Fake Investigations” to respond to increasing criticism from Trump supporters.
Saying Republicans have distorted details of the firm’s congressional testimony, the Fusion co-founders urged lawmakers to release testimony transcripts “so that the American people can learn the truth about our work and most, important, what happened to our democracy.”
Trump supporters and some conservative lawmakers are trying to discredit the Russia-Trump investigation by claiming the probe was triggered by the controversial dossier.
“As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the bureau had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp.”
In a bombshell New York Times report over the weekend, the newspaper revealed that the impetus for the investigation was actually an Australian diplomat who revealed that a Trump aide admitted he knew Russia had political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
