Between Devin Nunes’s lonely quest to get to the truth of Hillary Clinton’s ties to Russia and a new report tying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to Donald Trump’s campaign, the former Democratic presidential nominee can’t catch a break. Considering Tuesday’s breaking news regarding the infamous Russian dossier (i.e. the pee-pee tape), however, it seems the political crosshairs won’t be leaving Clinton alone anytime soon. That’s because her election campaign and the Democratic National Convention allegedly funded British spy Christopher Steele’s work abroad.
On Wednesday, former Clinton spokesperson Brian Fallon discussed the story with CNN. “I don’t know,” he said when asked if Clinton knew about her campaign’s apparent role in bankrolling Fusion GPS’s opposition research, which was contracted out to Steele. “I haven’t asked. I haven’t spoken to her.” Even so, when asked why neither he nor she knew about the connection, Fallon went on the defensive. “Opposition research happens all the time in campaigns… Fusion GPS had a head start on this, basically came to the campaign, and pitched us [because] they had already been commissioned and hired during the Republican primary.”
Despite his attempts to quickly shift attention to the GOP’s business dealings with Fusion GPS, however, Brian was hit with a quote he gave Anderson Cooper back in July. “There’s a difference between going out and hiring opposition firms that work in the United States of America,” he said of Donald Trump Jr.’s controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russian officials, “and going on and soliciting information from a foreign national.” Steele, like some of the individuals who attended Trump Jr.’s meeting to obtain dirt on Clinton, is also a foreign national.
Attempting to distance himself and the Clinton campaign from the Trump campaign’s actions yet again, the former spokesperson claimed Steele’s research was “akin to counterintelligence work.” Fallon then went on to say, “Long after the Clinton campaign was paying Fusion GPS any longer, apparently, the FBI itself reached out to Christopher Steele.” The agency, he suggested, considered the British spy “so trustworthy,” they wanted to contract him to perform similar work until his cover was ultimately blown. Whether or not Fallon’s account of what went down proves truthful remains to be seen, but that didn’t stop the president from weighing in.
“[It’s a] very sad commentary on politics in this country,” Trump, himself the subject of several investigations into possible collusion with Russia, told reporters on Wednesday. “Hillary Clinton always denied it. The Democrats always denied it, and now, only because it is going to come out in a court case, they said yes they did it. They admitted it and they are embarrassed by it. I think it is a disgrace.” You can check out the full interview with Fallon below.
(Via CNN)