This past Tuesday, Buzzfeed News published a document detailing President-elect Trump’s supposed ties to Russia. The document suggests that Russia has been sharing information with Trump for at least the past five years in order to “encourage splits with and divisions in western alliance.” According to BBC News, the 35 page document was supposedly written by Christopher Steele, a retired British intelligence officer, who now runs a London based intelligence firm. Here’s what you need to know about the document.
1. It’s unverified.
Major news outlets, including BBC, and Buzzfeed, have stressed that the dossier is unverified. Trump, in typical fashion, has taken to Twitter, tweeting that the allegations are “FAKE NEWS” published by CCN because their “ratings are tanking.” It is worth noting that CNN never presented the information in the dossier as fact in their Tuesday article. Trump has since tweeted that there is “no proof” and he has called the allegations “phony.” According to BBC, Russian officials have also dismissed the allegations. Jake Kanter, of Business Insider, has also pointed out that there are mistakes in the report, such as the misspelling of Alfa Group as Alpha Group, that point to the allegations being false.
2. The supposed author of the document, however, lends credibility to its allegations.
Business Insider reports that Christopher Steele is a “highly regarded specialist on Russia” within the British intelligence community. The New York Times also reports that Steele “ is known in British intelligence circles for his knowledge of the intricate web of Kremlin-tied companies and associates that control Russia.” They speculate that Steele most likely did not go to Russia to conduct the investigation, but rather relied on contacts within the country.
3. The memos contained information about two different operations.
The first operation has been an ongoing project of gathering kompromat, or compromising information on Trump. According to Scott Shane, Nicholas Confessore, and Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times, this was part of a several year effort to find ways to influence Trump, which included offering him attractive business deals. The second operation was more recent and, supposedly, involved communication with Trump campaign representatives and Russian officials.
4. Political circles have known this for months.
According to Julian Borger of The Guardian, “the request for opposition research on Donald Trump came from one of his Republican opponents in the primary campaign.” The primary was over, however, by the time Mr. Steele supposedly started collecting information on Trump. The firm then found a Democratic client, but not necessarily Hillary Clinton or the DNC. Additionally, rumors about some of the information in the dossier have been circulating since Mother Jones first published information about a Russian operative to “cultivate Trump” on October 31. The New York Times reports that Rick Wilson, a Republican who worked for a super PAC supporting Marco Rubio, first heard about the dossier in July. Additionally The Gaurdian reports that John McCain knew about the allegations and found them sufficiently alarming to dispatch a “trusted emissary” and “former US official” to learn more.
5. The scandal will continue well past Inauguration day.
While Trump has experienced many scandals, this one is unlikely to blow over quickly. Trump has repeatedly dismissed all of the allegations against him in the dossier. If these allegations turn out to be true, it could seriously damage his credibility. In its decision to publish the dossier, Buzzfeed News said they wanted “Americans [to] make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government.” While investigations are underway, Americans must currently decide for themselves if they think the information is true.
