One of the founders of the research firm behind the controversial Russian dossier met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer before and after she sat down with President Trump’s son and other campaign officials at the Trump Tower during the 2016 election, Fox News reported on Tuesday.
Glenn Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and co-founder of Fusion GPS, was with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at a Manhattan federal courtroom just hours before the Trump Tower meeting on June 9, 2016, Fox News reported, citing a source. He met with her again after the meeting, the report said.
Veselnitskaya, promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, met with Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign operatives – including Jared Kushner and former campaign manager Paul Manafort. Trump Jr. later said the discussion was about Russian adoptions.
But the meeting took place at a critical time when Fusion GPS was being paid by a Russian oligarch and by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee while it enlisted former British spy Christopher Steele to dig up damaging information about Trump through his contacts in Moscow, Fox News said.
The report said Simpson’s meeting Veselnitskaya and Fusion GPS’ being bankrolled by the DNC, the Clinton campaign and Russian interests raises new questions about what role the firm played in the presidential election.
Simpson and Fusion GPS were hired by BakerHostetler, which represented Russian firm Prevezon through Veselnitskaya, the report said.
Prevezon, a holding company based in Cyprus, is owned by Moscow businessman Denis Katsyv.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into the Trump Tower meeting as part of his investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
Some GOP lawmakers have raised questions about Fusion after it was revealed the Clinton campaign paid for the research that led to the dossier, which contained unverified claims that Trump had links to Russians.
The dossier also contributed in part to the FBI’s initial investigation into Russian collusion and the Trump campaign.
The Washington Free Beacon, under the financial backing of Republican donor Paul Singer, initially contracted with Fusion in September 2015 for opposition research about candidate Trump.
But it stopped paying the firm in April 2016 when it became apparent Trump would win the Republican nomination.
That’s when the Clinton campaign and DNC stepped in using the law firm Perkins Coie.
Fusion then reached out to Steele to work on the dossier.
Lawyers for Fusion and Veselnitskaya did not respond to requests for comment.