Conservative Website Funded Initial Fusion GPS Trump Opposition Effort

The opposition research project that ultimately produced the controversial Trump-Russia dossier was initially backed by the conservative Washington Free Beacon website, it was revealed late Friday.

Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti and chairman Michael Goldfarb said in a statement that the publication had retained Fusion GPS to “provide research on multiple candidates in the [2016] Republican presidential primary,” as well as Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Continetti and Goldfarb denied that the Free Beacon “had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele,” the former British spy who compiled the now-infamous file. The dossier, which was published by BuzzFeed in January, contained unverified and lurid allegations about dirt the Russians had on then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign’s possible connections to Moscow.

Free Beacon’s connection with Fusion GPS was first reported by the Washington Examiner. According to the Examiner’s report, lawyers for the Free Beacon told the House Intelligence Committee that the website funded the research between the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016. (Read more from “Conservative Website Funded Initial Fusion GPS Trump Opposition Effort” HERE)

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