This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42628347
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Fusion GPS dossier author 'feared Trump was blackmail target' | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
The ex-British spy who compiled a dossier on Donald Trump feared he was being blackmailed by the Kremlin, US Congress has heard. | |
Former intelligence agent Christopher Steele took his concerns to the FBI in July 2016, the Senate was told. | |
It was also claimed during the hearing that someone has been killed because of the dossier. | |
The opposition research was reportedly funded by Trump-rival Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic party. | |
What was the testimony about? | |
Tuesday's allegations emerged in a 312-page transcript of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing from last August. | |
It featured testimony by Glenn Simpson, head of Fusion GPS, the Washington firm that commissioned the Steele dossier. | |
Mr Simpson defended the research file, which purported to show financial and personal links between Mr Trump, his advisers and Moscow. | |
The Senate committee is one of three congressional panels investigating Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and claims of collusion with the Trump campaign. | |
The White House and many Republicans have argued the Fusion GPS dossier and claims of collusion are a political smear, devoid of credibility. | |
What was the Trump blackmail claim? | |
No evidence has emerged that Mr Trump was blackmailed by the Kremlin. | |
But in his closed-door session, Mr Simpson told senators: "He [former British spy Christopher Steele] thought from his perspective there was an issue - a security issue about whether a presidential candidate was being blackmailed." | |
The Fusion GPS founder also said: "Chris said he was very concerned about whether this represented a national security threat and said he wanted to - he said he thought we were obligated to tell someone in government, in our government about this information." | |
The dossier contained an unsubstantiated claim that Mr Trump was once filmed with prostitutes at a hotel in the Russian capital. | |
Mr Trump himself poured scorn on that allegation a year ago, saying he has always been on guard against hidden cameras in Moscow hotel suites. | |
There has been no comment from the FBI about Mr Simpson's testimony. | |
Who was supposedly killed? | |
During his 10 hours of congressional testimony, Mr Simpson was cagey on the origins of claims in the dossier. | |
The Fusion GPS chief's lawyer, Joshua Levy, interrupted to say: "[Mr Simpson] wants to be very careful to protect his sources. | |
"Somebody's already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work." | |
Mr Levy did not identify the person he said had died. | |
However, a source told CNN the attorney's remark did not refer to any specific death, but instead alluded to a string of unsolved fatalities of Russians after the 2016 election that have preoccupied conspiracy theorists. | |
Can Simpson's testimony be trusted? | |
Several news organisations, including the BBC, were briefed on the dossier before the November 2016 election. | |
However, most decided not to report on the material because its sometimes lewd content could not be verified. | |
One of Mr Simpson's previous targets, US-born financier Bill Browder, has called him a liar who acts at Russia's behest. | |
Mr Browder, a Kremlin critic who was once the subject of damaging allegations by Fusion GPS, told the New York Times about Mr Simpson: "He's a professional smear campaigner and liar for money." | |
Why was the testimony released now? | |
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, released the transcript of the hearing from five months ago, saying Mr Simpson had asked her to do so. | |
She said she had taken the step because of the "innuendo and misinformation" circulating about Fusion GPS. | |
Ms Feinstein said this was "part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation into potential collusion and obstruction of justice". | |
It comes after the committee's Republican chairman, Charles Grassley, last week called for a criminal investigation into Mr Steele. |