The firm hired by Elias, Fusion GPS, produced research that resulted a dossier detailing alleged connections between Trump and Russia. At the time, it was not publicly known Elias had hired Fusion GPS; that was revealed by The Washington Post this week. While it is common for campaigns to conduct opposition research, Elias’s decision to hire Fusion GPS has drawn intense interest because it resulted in the controversial dossier. Elias agreed, deciding Fusion GPS had more capacity than the campaign’s in-house operation to do sophisticated research, according to the Perkins Coie spokesperson. It is unclear who else was familiar with the arrangement, or who knew that Fusion GPS hired a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, who wrote the dossier.

Source: Washington Post October 28, 2017 00:56 UTC