Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Don't Be Distracted by the Trump Dossier Fuss

Yes, Democrats financed research into Trump's ties to Russia. We've known that for a year.

October 26, 2017 at 5:55 PM UTC

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

Not happy.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

The Washington Post published a big story on Tuesday evening, saying that Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee financed research for the "Steele dossier" — a much-discussed report prepared by a former British intelligence operative that outlined possible connections between Donald Trump, his presidential campaign, and Russia.

The Post revealed that Marc Elias, a lawyer with the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington investigative firm, in April of 2016, to conduct the research. Fusion, in turn, paid Christopher Steele, the ex-MI6 guy, to tap into his network of Russia hands to dig for dirt on Trump.