Report: Obama paid nearly $1 million to law firm that hired Fusion GPS to compile anti-Trump dossier

Oct 29, 2017 7:06 pm

A report reveals Obama's campaign organization donated money to the same law firm retained by the Clinton's campaign and the DNC that sent money to Fusion GPS to compile the anti-Trump dossier. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) 

Chris Enloe

Did former President Barack Obama’s campaign organization, Obama for America, play a role in the creation of the so-called anti-Trump dossier made by Fusion GPS? A new report suggests it may have.

What did the report say?

According to an extensive report from The Federalist, OFA paid nearly $1 million to the same law firm, Perkins Coie, that funneled money to Fusion GPS, the opposition research organization that made the dossier at the request of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

Records with the Federal Election Commission show OFA has paid the law firm $972,000 since April 2016, The Federalist reported. The dossier began to be compiled sometime in the spring 2016, after the Washington Free Beacon ended its relationship with Fusion.

Perkins Coie funneled money to Fusion GPS at the request of Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, according to a Washington Post report.

More from The Federalist:

OFA, Obama’s official campaign arm in 2016, paid nearly $800,000 to Perkins Coie in 2016 alone, according to FEC records. The first 2016 payments to Perkins Coie, classified only as “Legal Services,” were made April 25-26, 2016, and totaled $98,047. A second batch of payments, also classified as “Legal Services,” were disbursed to the law firm on September 29, 2016, and totaled exactly $700,000. Payments from OFA to Perkins Coie in 2017 totaled $174,725 through August 22, 2017.

FEC records as well as federal court records show that Marc Elias, the Perkins Coie lawyer whom the Washington Post reported was responsible for the payments to Fusion GPS on behalf of Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, also previously served as a counsel for OFA.

Clinton’s official campaign organization, Hillary for America, paid Perkins Coie nearly $5.1 million in 2016, while the DNC paid the firm nearly $5.4 million in 2016, FEC records show.

OFA, though originally formed to elect Obama, has continued its work into 2017. The organization is now solely focused on opposing Trump.

Three important questions:

1. How much did Obama know and when did he know it?
2. Did OFA know they were funding the anti-Trump operation?
3. Did the Obama administration use unverified intelligence gathered in the dossier to justify government surveillance on members of the Trump campaign?