Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump
Discover the inside story behind one of the great scandals of modern politics.
You wouldn't be reading this if Donald Trump and his congressional allies hadn't sued Fusion GPS. However, Trump's friends' obsessive efforts to discredit Fusion resulted in the disclosure of a large amount of previously confidential information. This was the sole reason Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch were able to compose Crime in Progress.
The two investigators, Fusion's co-founders, reveal the whole tale of their investigation into Trump and his ties to the Russian government. Their story includes former British spy Christopher Steele and his infamous dossier, whose bombshell allegations spread throughout intelligence agencies, the media, and the entire world.
Beginning with the Republican primaries in 2015 and ending with the publishing of the Mueller report in 2019, the story of this investigation unfolds like a nonfiction thriller. It's full of twists and turns, with one very unpredictable - and compelling - character at its center.
In this brief, you will learn.
Why Fusion was suspicious of Trump's background as a developer;
How the horrified Christopher Steele attempted to publish his dossier while safeguarding his sources,
The writers discuss what they believe the Mueller report implies for American democracy.
1. One of today's most prominent political stories originated as a small-scale opposition research project.
Gathering information about political opponents is a common practice in today's politics. As election season approaches, private intelligence agencies are routinely engaged to perform opposition research, which involves studying political candidates' backgrounds to uncover embarrassing information from their pasts.
However, it is unusual for an "oppo research" report to lead to many government inquiries. Even less often, there are probes into a sitting president's suspected ties to a potentially hostile foreign power.
That was the outcome when the little intelligence firm Fusion GPS started to study Donald Trump and his strange ties with Russia.
Fusion GPS was formed by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, two former investigative journalists who met while working at the Wall Street Journal. At Fusion, they employ their analytical talents to find and evaluate complicated, publically available documents such as financial information and court filings for various private clients.
Fusion primarily worked with customers such as lawyers or hedge fund managers rather than politicians. Until 2015, they had only worked on one political campaign. That occurred in 2012 when they looked into Mitt Romney's unclear financial past as the Republican presidential contender.
In 2015, Fusion saw Donald Trump as a similar opportunity to Romney: someone with a history of questionable business practices that they would be well positioned to throw light on. So they looked for a client willing to pay for a probe of Trump and found one in the conservative journal Washington Free Beacon. It was run by millionaire Paul Singer, a Republican opposed to Trump. Fusion was granted a broad mandate, but the goal was straightforward: to uncover evidence that would jeopardize Trump's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
Then they went to work.
2. As soon as Fusion began probing Trump, they discovered unsettling evidence.
Simpson and Fritsch quickly realized how much there was to investigate. For one thing, they were taken aback by the sheer number of litigation Trump has been involved in over the years. Soon, they saw a trend among all of the records.
They observed that Trump tended to make dramatic announcements about significant developments, such as a new hotel, and then accumulate massive investments. Later, the project failed, and the investors sued him, only for Trump to claim he was merely a licensor and not the developer. For example, the Trump SoHo development in Manhattan was probed for fraud in 2011. Trump subsequently had to refund approximately $3 million to the project's investors, money that he and his children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, had amassed by misrepresenting sales figures during the project's early phases.
Was Trump a con artist? Simpson and Fritsch began to suspect this. In addition, there were several questions about connections to organized crime, money laundering, and Russia. Felix Sater, Trump's business partner and convicted felon, emerged as an early subject of interest in the investigation, particularly given the convoluted links between Russia and his company, Bayrock. Fusion felt that an individual close to the Kremlin was behind a $50 million payment to Bayrock via a mysterious business in Iceland, with Trump as the eventual benefactor.
There were numerous other similar incidents to investigate. As Fusion pursued the investigation, they discovered some deeply distressing information and developed a sense of urgency for their task.
However, their findings received little attention. Trump's rivals for the nomination mainly avoided discussing his Russian ties, and the tales failed to resonate with the public amidst the drama of the debates.
Even as the Fusion investigation gained traction, Trump continued to advance. It wasn't long before his nomination became unavoidable, implying two things for Fusion: first, their work would have to continue. Second, they would need a new client to pay for it—one who did not support the Republicans.
3. Working for the Democrats, Fusion hired former spy Christopher Steele, who soon unearthed bombshell information.
Donald Trump gained enough state nominations on March 1, 2016 - "Super Tuesday" - that his eventual win in the Republican primary became clear. However, Fusion was determined to continue its job. Early that morning, Peter Fritsch emailed a Democratic Party contact, asking them to assist them with research. They eventually found a new willing client at the legal firm Perkins Coie. Marc Elias, their point of contact there, was one of the most essential Democratic attorneys.
Elias was particularly impressed with Fusion's work on the Russia connection. There was now a potential that the Russians had influence over Paul Manafort, a political veteran just hired to Trump's team as an advisor who would later become campaign manager.
Fusion required overseas reporting to adequately investigate everything for their new client. So, in May 2016, they went to an old friend: Christopher Steele, a British ex-spy who runs his own private consulting firm, Orbis, in London. While Fusion specialized in document research, Steele had a network of Russian sources from which he could obtain material.
Steele's very first report made history. The two-and-a-half-page paper, disclosed on June 20, 2016, was later dubbed the "Steele Dossier" by the media. It contained some alarming information: Russia, with Putin's explicit support, has been building its relationship with Trump for five years to split the Western alliance and raise its own importance on the global scene.
The story claimed that the Russians had compromising material on the prospective US president, including a videotape of him watching multiple prostitutes urinate on a hotel bed where Barack and Michelle Obama had previously slept.
This was kompromat, which is material that can be exploited for blackmail. According to the report, the Russians may have had leverage over Trump himself in addition to Manafort.
Simpson and Fritsch were surprised and doubtful, but Steele stayed firm on his sources. This was sound intelligence, he informed the Fusion partners.
The difficulty was that the intelligence was so solid that Steele informed Simpson he felt obligated to transmit it to the FBI. It was an issue of national security.
So, on July 5, 2016, Steele addressed an FBI contact named Michael Gaeta. Gaeta thanked him for the information and vowed to escalate the situation. However, Steele was confronted by an unnerving silence.
4. Trump and Putin's mutual admiration grew increasingly clear, prompting the FBI to take action.
By the time Steele told the FBI of his findings, the intriguing link between Trump and Putin had already begun to emerge. The specifics of Steele's claim were still unknown, but the two characters' mutual admiration was generally acknowledged. On June 17, 2016, Putin said he would welcome Trump's administration. In exchange, Trump appeared to be moving Republican Party policy toward a more pro-Russia agenda: in July, he reversed a stance that supported rebels battling Russia in Ukraine.
Equally alarming were the breaches of Democratic Party emails, the first of which came on June 25 and the second on July 22 - only three days before the Democratic convention. Russian fingerprints appeared to be all over both disclosures. These emails were particularly embarrassing since they revealed senior party figures' favoritism for Hillary Clinton over her competitor, Bernie Sanders; they quickly resulted in the resignation of party chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
On July 26, immediately after the Democrats' conference finished, Trump made probably his most surprising public comment yet: he directly asked Russia to track 30,000 Clinton emails that had gone missing from her private server.
Steele was so taken aback by Trump's explicit invitation for Russian influence that he decided to travel across the Atlantic to ensure that the FBI was genuinely considering his dossier. This time, he met an old buddy, Bruce Ohr, who worked for the Justice Department. Ohr was stunned into action, but the FBI had already been working on the case. They had initiated an operation known as "Crossfire Hurricane," which was eventually dubbed the "Trump-Russia investigation."
By early August, CIA Director John Brennan was confident that Russia was responsible for the Clinton email attacks, which were specifically designed to boost Trump's campaign. He informed several top intelligence congressmen and women, but they decided to keep everything under wraps.
Brennan had also phoned Russia's intelligence service, the FSB, and warned them to end their interference. They denied involvement, but according to a subsequent report from Steele, the Russians began to worry at this time when their campaign was partially exposed. Putin even dismissed his chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.
Furthermore, the press was now becoming aware of the situation.
5. Despite Fusion's best efforts, the Trump-Russia story did not gain traction in the media, unlike James Comey's intervention.
Like Steele, the Fusion partners were growing increasingly anxious about the possibility of a Trump administration. So, they worked hard to get the story into the press.
In September 2016, when things were genuinely becoming desperate, Fusion persuaded Steele to return to Washington to brief journalists in person. Steele accepted, despite concerns about his own and his sources' anonymity.
However, because Steele protected his sources, the media could not corroborate his conclusions. The session produced only one news piece written by Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News. His story indicated that US intelligence agencies were looking into contacts between Trump adviser Carter Page and the Kremlin, as Steele had confirmed. The report did raise a stir, prompting Page to take a leave of absence, but the news cycle rapidly moved on.
This may have altered on October 7 if the news had been more conventional. That afternoon, the administration officially announced that the US Intelligence Community was confident that the email breaches were the work of the Russian government and were intended to undermine the election.
But later, two much more incendiary stories emerged. First, the Washington Post published the now-infamous video of Trump bragging about grabbing women "by the pussy." For a brief moment, it appeared that Trump's time was over. However, the third story appeared later: another set of WikiLeaks emails. This time, they belonged to John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chairman. The news didn't completely destroy the Washington Post's video, but its precise timing did take the edge off. Clearly, Russia was still trying everything it could to have its candidate elected.
Things worsened worse on October 28, just eleven days before the election. FBI Director James Comey wrote a letter telling Congress that, due to new information, the FBI was renewing its investigation into Clinton's use of her email account. It was a significant story - and damaging for Clinton's campaign.
So was a New York Times item published three days later, titled "Investigating Donald Trump, FBI Sees No Clear Link to Russia." In stark contrast to the feverish coverage of the FBI's Clinton investigation, the Times suggested that the FBI's Trump probe had fallen short.
It's widely assumed that Comey intervened when Trump won the election. The Times piece also had an impact.
But Fusion was as determined as ever.
6. When the Trump-Russia topic finally received media attention, it wasn't in the way anyone had hoped.
The Fusion crew was shocked by Donald Trump's victory in the November 8 election but also felt a renewed sense of urgency about their mission. Although Trump had been elected, their probe was far from over. However, they continued to work pro gratis because their money had run out. But Simpson and Fritsch weren't the only ones attempting to make an effect.
Similarly astounded, Christopher Steele was determined to apply pressure. He informed his tutor, Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Russia, of his concerns. Wood, in turn, had a private conversation with David Kramer at a security conference later in November. Kramer was an advisor to Senator John McCain, a prominent Republican renowned for his antagonistic attitude toward Russia: the ideal person to exert pressure on the FBI inquiry. Sure enough, McCain scheduled a meeting with James Comey to discuss the affair.
Steele didn't realize how shocked Kramer was by the story and how hard he would work to spread the word. Kramer began briefing the contents around Washington after acquiring a copy of Steele's reporting from Fusion, which insisted on keeping it for McCain's eyes only. He eventually spoke with BuzzFeed reporter Ken Bensinger, who secured images of the dossier.
Around the same time, on January 6, 2017, the US Intelligence Community, which included the FBI, NSA, and CIA, released its own formal report revealing how Moscow had attempted to influence the election in Trump's favor. Comey had also informed the current president, Barack Obama, and his soon-to-be successor on the Steele dossier. Trump denied all of the charges as bogus.
BuzzFeed's daring journalistic decision four days later, rather than the official story, made the most significant impact. On January 10, the website uploaded images of the document taken by Bensinger. Finally, the public was drawn to the astounding depth of Trump's Russia contacts, albeit the most sensational of these charges - the "golden shower" incident - dominated the headlines.
Steele had further worries. He never intended that his accurate reports be made public. As a result of his exposure, he had to be concerned about his own and his sources' security. People's lives were in jeopardy.
7. Fusion, like the FBI, found a means to continue probing throughout Trump's first few months in office.
Steele went into hiding after the report was out, concerned about one of his sources, a Russian living in the United States. On top of those concerns, Fusion was facing an unexpected bombardment of scrutiny; several Republicans in Congress were attempting to establish some type of conspiracy behind the controversial dossier. Even the incoming president got involved, constantly tweeting about a "witch hunt."
Despite this, Simpson and Fritsch decided to continue their work. They founded The Democracy Integrity Project, which allowed philanthropic benefactors to indirectly engage Fusion and Orbis to gather more information on Trump and his cronies. They could continue operating because of the cash they got, particularly from worried West Coast tech entrepreneurs.
Fusion attempted to learn more about Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager with questionable ties to Russia and Ukraine. They also looked into Maria Butina, a young Russian student with unusual connections to the National Rifle Association. They thought that Russia might have utilized the NRA to funnel donations to Trump supporters.
Meanwhile, the chaotic start of Trump's presidency was approaching a watershed event on May 9. Trump sacked FBI Director James Comey in what was primarily thought to be an attempt to undermine the investigation into his ties with Russia.
Trump first claimed that he dismissed Comey because he did a poor job investigating Clinton's emails. He quickly contradicted himself by acknowledging that firing Comey had relieved him of "great pressure because of Russia." To Fusion and other observers, this was evidence that the Russians had sway over the president.
However, Comey's removal did not signal the end of the official inquiry into the issue. A week later, on May 17, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein established a special counsel probe to thoroughly examine Russia's conduct in the 2016 election. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was in charge, a well-respected individual who was supposed to remain politically unbiased.
However, this was far from the end of Fusion's troubles.
8. Fusion faced significant legal challenges as Trump's supporters went on the defense.
The press was finally going crazy for stories about Trump and his ties to Russia, with more and more details emerging. For example, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had proposed establishing a covert back channel between his team and the Kremlin. Even more embarrassing was the revelation that Donald Trump Jr. had accepted to meet with some Russian state officials to obtain dirt on Clinton - a memorable rendezvous known as the "Trump Tower meeting."
These discoveries, however, came from something other than Fusion, which was busy fighting flames on multiple fronts. Two lawmakers were making things especially difficult for them: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Both fiercely questioned Fusion about their investigative role, attempting to doubt the firm's credibility. They even suggested that the Russians had targeted Fusion rather than the Trump campaign.
On this final issue, Grassley and Nunes were helped by a remarkable coincidence. Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, attended the Trump Tower meeting. This surprised the Fusion partners because they had previously collaborated with her on an unconnected case: she had engaged an American law firm for which Fusion had done some work. It was a coincidence, but one that seemed very strange for Fusion.
Simpson was obliged to appear before various investigation committees and was involved in a legal dispute over a demand for Fusion's bank data. Fusion was also sued by Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and close friend who appeared to be involved in the Russian contacts; he abandoned the complaint shortly after the FBI searched his offices. In August 2018, Cohen turned on Trump and provided information to Mueller. He was ultimately sentenced to three years on various criminal counts, including tax evasion.
The Cohen narrative illustrates how Fusion and Steele's reporting was ultimately validated. Nonetheless, Simpson, Fritsch, and Steele eagerly awaited the outcome of Mueller's probe.
9. As damning as Mueller's report was, it appears that nothing will prevent a repeat of the alleged 2016 election interference.
William Barr, Trump's newly appointed attorney general, was the first to see Robert Mueller's report, which was filed on March 22, 2019. His explanation was that it did not find Trump guilty of conspiring with the Russians or impeding justice. But was this what the report actually said?
Barr's bland conclusions effectively muffled the report's impact even though Mueller's report rated the president. Instead, it verified much of what had been reported in the news, including Russia's attempt to sway the election result in Trump's favor. While the investigation did not absolve Trump of blame, it fell far short of the cathartic conclusion that many had anticipated.
Simpson and Fritsch cited numerous reasons for this. For starters, Justice Department doctrine was that a sitting president could not be criminally indicted; this was simply outside Mueller's purview. Another cause was due to the project's scope. Mueller was entrusted with investigating election meddling, not the more extensive network of relationships between Trump and Russia that Fusion and Orbis had worked so hard to unearth.
Other investigations into Trump and his Russian ties may be ongoing within the FBI, according to Mueller's statement before Congress in June 2019. Whatever the results of these investigations are, they may never be made public.
However, Steele's dossier's central findings are now widely accepted. There was a significant Russian effort to influence the election in favor of Trump, whether or not Trump was a direct participant. Unsurprisingly, the kompromat story has been more challenging to verify.
Finally, the authors conclude that we should be concerned: what happened in 2016 could happen again. Are appropriate measures being taken to prevent Russian involvement in the next US election? Simpson and Fritsch stress that the warning they issued in 2016 remains as relevant as ever.
Final Summary
Fusion GPS's investigation of Donald Trump's ties to Russia grew into something that the experienced investigators could not have expected. However, Christopher Steele's dossier included such sensitive information that they had no choice except to report it to the authorities. We may never know the complete picture of what connects Trump to Russia since we are still dealing with today's extraordinary aftermath.