The file explained ~~~Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) surprisingly filed the first criminal referral Friday from congressional investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay They sought charges not against anyone involved in the underlying crimes committed, but against Christopher Steele, a former officer of British intelligence who worked during the 2016 campaign cycle on building a dossier alleging the existence of a conspiracy between Donald Trump and the Russian government. This takes the Steele dossier – yes, that's the document alleging the existence of a "pee tape" that the Russians could have used to blackmail Trump – to a strange point. His liberal origins hoped to expose a massive conspiracy that would bring down Trump, giving him his current status as the center of a conservative conspiracy theory meant to bring down Robert Mueller. primaries or general elections, and contrary to the conflicting myths of conspiracy theorists on the left and right, it is not true that the subsequent investigation confirmed the dossier's claims or that the Trump investigation was primarily based on those claims . It is an ephemeral document whose waxing and waning reputation and varied political valence say more about the political evolution of Trump and Russia than anything else. Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele to investigate Trump. Fusion GPS, the company that created the dossier, was co-founded in 2011 by Glenn Simpson, Peter Fritsch and Thomas Catan – three former Wall Street Journal journalists who were part of a broader 21st century trend of veteran journalists reporting adapting to evolution. economic situation by leaving the field in favor of various forms of “strategic intelligence” or research for hire. The company's extremely concise website describes it as simply providing "premium research, business intelligence and due diligence services to companies, law firms and investors around the world." As a Washington-based company, some of their work has been political. A 2012 Wall Street Journal opinion piece revealed that Fusion GPS worked for Democrats doing opposition research on Mitt Romney. According to Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti and president Michael Goldfarb, the company was hired early in the 2016 cycle "to provide research on several candidates in the Republican presidential primary." Later, in April 2016, Marc Elias – a top attorney for the Democratic campaign – retained Fusion GPS through his firm Perkins Coie on behalf of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Perkins Coie, at Elias' request and with bills ultimately paid by Clinton and the DNC, continued to fund Fusion's work until late October 2016, although those involved say neither the campaign nor the DNC did were aware of the details of Fusion's work. .Fusion, in turn, called on Christopher Steele, a retired MI-6 officer with considerable expertise on Russian matters, to use his contacts in Moscow to find out what he could about the links of Trump with the Russian government. This work led to the compilation of Steele's dossier, written in the style of an intelligence report and based on anonymous sources, which contained various serious accusations against Trump. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized document now from our. 31.