Trump slams dirty-tricks bosses behind salacious 'dossier' for taking the Fifth before Congress and asks whether 'Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)' paid for it

  • Fusion GPS executives took the Fifth before a congressional committee on Wednesday
  • Their firm was behind a 'dirty dossier' of unsubstantiated claims about Trump, including the notion that Russia's government had films of him with prostitutes
  • House Intelligence Committee Republicans want to learn who paid for the opposition research
  • The president tweeted: 'Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?' 
  • The dossier circulated among political reporters  last year until Buzzfeed's editors decided to publish it

President Donald Trump blasted two officials of a Democrat-aligned opposition research firm on Thursday for refusing to testify before the House Intelligence Committee about a 'dirty dossier' targeting him last year.

The sensationalized but unsubstantiated report is the subject of a congressional probe as Republicans scramble to find out who paid Fusion GPS to produce it.

'Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th,' Trump complained on Twitter. 'Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?'

The New York Times reported in April that FBI agents met with former British spy Christopher Steele, who produced the document, and offered him $50,000 if he could corroborate the information he collected.

The payment was never made.

Donald Trump blasted a pair of opposition research executives for refusing to testify before Congress about a dossier which included unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials had videos of President Donald Trump cavorting with prostitutes

Donald Trump blasted a pair of opposition research executives for refusing to testify before Congress about a dossier which included unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials had videos of President Donald Trump cavorting with prostitutes

Trump floated the highly unorthodox idea that the FBI might have been involved in funding the 'dirty dossier'

Trump floated the highly unorthodox idea that the FBI might have been involved in funding the 'dirty dossier'

Peter Fritsch
Thomas Catan

Fusion GPS co-founder Peter Fritsch (left) and partner Thomas Catan (right) took the Fifth on Wednesday rather than talking to Congress

Firm co-founder Peter Fritsch and partner Thomas Catan on Wednesday invoked the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which protects Americans against self-incrimination.

Fox News reported that the two men were subpoenaed to appear in a closed-door session but refused to speak at every turn.

The dossier contends that the Russian government amassed compromising information about Trump but had also been engaged in a years-long effort to support and assist him.

Compiled by British spy Christopher Steele, it circulated among Washington journalists last year until Buzzfeed first published it.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators – who are probing whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election – have spoken with Steele already.

At a White House news conference on Monday, Trump said that though he would like for the Russia investigation to come to an end, he had no plans to fire Mueller.

Fusion GPS lawyer Joshua Levy warned on Monday that his clients would not cooperate with California Rep. Devin Nunes and other Republicans in charge of hearings.

House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes is trying to determine who paid Fusion GPS for the opposition research against Trump

House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes is trying to determine who paid Fusion GPS for the opposition research against Trump

'Based on this Committee's bad faith interactions with the undersigned counsel and its pattern of unprofessional conduct exhibited during different points throughout this investigation, you have left us with no choice but to advise our clients to assert their privileges in the face of these subpoenas,' Levy wrote.

He said in a statement Wednesday that 'no American should have to experience today's indignity. No American should be required to appear before Congress simply to invoke his constitutional privileges.'

A congressional official shot back in a statement to Fox that 'Democrats and Fusion GPS have tried to obstruct every effort to get the facts about the compilation of the Steele dossier and who paid for it, so it's no surprise that Fusion GPS is saying they’ll continue to obstruct these efforts.'

Nunes' committee has been trying to determine who paid Fusion GPS for the opposition research that formed the basis of the dossier.

Trump has branded the entire document 'fake news.'

Among its claims are that Russian officials have videos of the president cavorting with prostitutes, filmed during Trump's 2013 visit to a luxury Moscow hotel for the Miss Universe contest

It also contains a highly unusual report, also never substantiated, that the call girls performed a 'golden shower' routine that involved them urinated on a hotel bed as a sign of disgust for then-president Barack Obama.