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Alexa Steele Biography & Facts

The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the government of Russia prior to and during the 2016 election campaign. Five years later, it was described by mainstream media as "largely discredited", "deeply flawed", and "largely unverified". Several key allegations made in July 2016 were corroborated six months later in the 2017 assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, namely that Vladimir Putin favored Trump over Hillary Clinton; that he personally ordered an "influence campaign" to harm Clinton's electoral chances and "undermine public faith in the US democratic process"; that he ordered cyber attacks on the Democratic and Republican parties; and that many Trump campaign officials and associates had numerous secretive contacts with Russian officials and spies.The dossier, published by BuzzFeed News without its author's permission on January 10 2017, is an unfinished 35-page compilation of raw intelligence based on information from initially anonymous sources known to the author, counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele. Steele, a former head of the Russia Desk for British intelligence (MI6), was writing the report for the private investigative firm Fusion GPS, who were paid by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The dossier's 17 reports allege that Trump campaign members and Russian operatives had conspired to cooperate in Russia's election interference to benefit Trump. It also alleges that Russia sought to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy. BuzzFeed's decision to publish the reports without verifying their allegations was criticized by journalists but the decision was also defended in a court statement explaining that BuzzFeed's action was for the public good as the public had a right to know so it could "exercise effective oversight of the government".In June 2016, Fusion GPS subcontracted Steele's firm to compile the dossier. DNC officials denied knowing their attorney had contracted with Fusion GPS, and Steele asserted he was not aware the Clinton campaign was the recipient of his research until months after he contracted with Fusion GPS. While compiling the dossier, Steele passed his findings to both British and American intelligence services.The intelligence community and most experts have treated the dossier with caution due to its unverified allegations, that Trump denounced as fake news. The U.S. intelligence community took the allegations seriously, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated every line of the dossier and identified and spoke with at least two of Steele's sources. The Mueller Report contained passing references to some of the dossier's allegations but little mention of its more sensational claims.Many allegations in the dossier have been dismissed by authorities or remain unverified. While the dossier played a central role in the seeking of FISA warrants on Carter Page, it did not play any role in the intelligence community's assessment about Russian actions in the 2016 election, and it was not the trigger for the opening of the Russia investigation into whether the Trump campaign was coordinating with the Russian government's interference in the 2016 presidential election. The dossier is a factor in several conspiracy theories promoted by Trump and his supporters in the media and Congress. History Two research operations and confusion between them The opposition research conducted by Fusion GPS on Donald Trump was in two distinct operations, each with a different client. First were the Republicans, funded by The Washington Free Beacon. Then came the Democrats, funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The Republican operation, from October 2015 to May 2016, focused on Trump's domestic business and entertainment activities; was performed by Fusion GPS; and used Wayne Barrett's files and public sources. Immediately after the publication of the dossier, the media sometimes falsely assumed that the dossier started as a product of this research, so the Free Beacon released this statement: "none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier". The Democratic operation, from April 2016 to December 2016, was focused on Trump's Russian connections; was subcontracted to Steele/Orbis; and used Steele's own source network and public sources. Only this second operation produced the dossier.From April to early May 2016, The Washington Free Beacon and the DNC/Clinton Campaign were independently both clients of Fusion GPS. This overlap contributed to the media's confusion. Republican operation does not produce dossier In October 2015, before the official start of the 2016 Republican primary campaign, the founders of Fusion GPS were seeking political work and wrote an email to "a big conservative donor they knew who disliked Trump, [and] they were hired". He arranged for them to use The Washington Free Beacon, an American conservative political journalism website, for their general opposition research on several Republican presidential candidates, including Trump. It is primarily funded by Republican donor Paul Singer. The Free Beacon and Singer were "part of the conservative never-Trump movement". Although Singer was a big supporter of Marco Rubio, Rubio denied any involvement in Fusion GPS's initial research and hiring.Early in their investigation, they received help from investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, who gave them his files on Trump. They contained findings about "Trump's past dealings, including tax and bankruptcy problems, potential ties to organized crime, and numerous legal entanglements. They also revealed that Trump had an unusually high number of connections to Russians with questionable backgrounds."For months, Fusion GPS gathered information about Trump, focusing on his business and entertainment activities. When Trump became the presumptive nominee on May 3, 2016, the conservative donor stopped funding the research on him.Due to media confusion over who produced the dossier, the Free Beacon issued a statement in October 2017 to debunk some false assumptions: All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele. Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign. Although the source of the Steele dossier's funding had already been reported correctly over a year be.... Discover the Alexa Steele popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alexa Steele books.