TURNS OUT: Fusion GPS wrote the ‘Hillary dirt’ memo that Russian lawyer tried to give Trump Jr in 2016

This is big news:

REUTERS – The same political research firm that prepared a dossier on Trump campaign ties to Russia had unrelated information on Clinton Foundation donors that a Russian lawyer obtained and offered to President Donald Trump’s eldest son last year, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The sources told Reuters that the negative information that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya wanted to give to Republican Trump’s campaign at a June 2016 meeting in New York had been dug up by Fusion GPS in an unrelated investigation.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Veselnitskaya said she went to the Trump Tower meeting with Donald Trump Jr., his brother-in-law Jared Kushner, and top campaign adviser Paul Manafort to show them proof of tax evasion by major Democratic donors.

She said Donald Jr. asked her for written evidence that illegal funds went to Clinton’s campaign, Bloomberg reported.

In December, 2014, the sources said, Veselnitskaya, who then was involved in litigation pitting her Russian client against British-American financier William Browder, received a legal research memo reporting that the Ziff Brothers, two New York financiers allied with Browder, had made a large contribution to a Clinton charity.

The memo had been prepared by Fusion, which had been hired to conduct legal research on Browder by Baker and Hostetler law firm. The firm represented Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, who was engaged in disputes with Browder and U.S. prosecutors.

Glenn Simpson, one of Fusion GPS’ founders, met with Veselnitskaya about that litigation before and after her meeting with Trump Jr., Kushner and Manafort, according to a source familiar with the matter.

However, a source familiar with 10 hours of testimony Simpson gave the Senate Judiciary committee in August said he told investigators he did not know of Veselnitskaya’s Trump Tower meeting until reports of it appeared in the media.

Two sources said the Fusion GPS work for Baker and Hostetler that produced the information Veselnitskaya offered Trump Jr. and his associates was unrelated to the firm’s work for Perkins Coie, a law firm that represented the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s campaign.

Perkins Coie has acknowledged that it paid $1.02 million to Fusion for research related to Donald Trump and his campaign.

Ok reading that made my head spin a little. So in short, Fusion GPS wrote the Clinton dirt memo back in 2014 and Veselnitskaya got her hands on it then in a separate matter. She apparently decided to use it as bait for Trump Jr. to get him into a meeting.

The article says she met with Fusion GPS BEFORE and AFTER the meeting, which makes it sound like they were colluding together. Now my first thought was that maybe she met with Fusion GPS before the meeting to better understand the memo, but then why would she meet with them afterward unless she was reporting on how the meeting went?

This whole thing is smelling more and more rotten as we go forward.


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