Fusion GPS payment

Trump tweets of reported Fusion GPS payment

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump directed his followers’ attention Monday morning to reporting that he incorrectly claims shows former President Barack Obama’s campaign organization paid nearly $1 million to the private investigation firm behind a dossier of salacious but unverified information alleging ties between Trump and the Russian government.

“Report out that Obama Campaign paid $972,000 to Fusion GPS. The firm also got $12,400,000 (really?) from DNC. Nobody knows who OK'd!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday, offering a somewhat incorrect account of reporting published a day earlier by The Federalist.

The president’s online post does not link to a specific story but appears to be a reference to The Federalist’s report that Obama for America paid $972,772 to Perkins Coie, an international law firm. The Washington Post reported last week that both the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign paid millions to Perkins Coie, which in turn paid Fusion GPS, the firm behind the unconfirmed dossier alleging collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

The Federalist’s story has gained significant traction within conservative circles, but Trump’s summary of its reporting offers a conclusion not reached in the story: that Obama’s campaign organization had funded the dossier. The Federalist report, which is based on publicly available Federal Election Commission reports, shows only that Obama for America funds went to Perkins Coie, classified as “legal services,” not that that money was then funneled to Fusion GPS.

The dossier in question, which was published last winter by BuzzFeed just days before Trump’s inauguration, alleged significant collusion between the Kremlin and the president’s campaign and remains unverified. Trump has denied all of the allegations in the dossier.

The president’s finger-pointing comes as the first indictments are expected from the investigation led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who has been charged by the Justice Department with leading an independent probe into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and allegations that the Trump campaign or individuals with ties to Trump colluded with those efforts.