Browder stands by claims that Russia paid firm behind the anti-Trump dossier
A key witness’ to a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing exploring Russian meddling in the 2016 election has reaffirmed his testimony that the secretive Washington firm, Fusion GPS, which commissioned the sensational anti-Trump campaign research dossier, received payment from the Kremlin.
Last week a Washington Post “Fact Checker” article assessed a statement by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders in which she said, “The Democrat-linked firm Fusion GPS actually took money from the Russian government while it created the phony dossier that’s been the basis for all of the Russia scandal fake news.”
The article — which awarded Mrs. Sanders “Three Pinocchios” for what it deemed were misrepresentations — concluded that: “Moreover, there is no evidence Fusion took money from the Russian government. It worked on behalf of an American law firm, which was hired by a company owned by a Russian whose father is a government official. Even [Bill] Browder, a fierce critic of Fusion, said in an interview the White House is “conflating two issues.”
Responding to the article, Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley wrote British-American businessman and anti-Kremlin crusader Bill Browder — who testified late last month before the Senate panel.
At the time, Mr. Browder asserted that “Fusion GPS took money from the Russian government; and second that it did so while it was working on the Trump dossier,” according to Mr. Grassley’s letter, which he released Thursday.