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<\/a>Former Hillary Clinton presidential campaign chairman John Podesta<\/p><\/div>\n
Is it possible that the chairman of Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee were unaware of the fact that\u00a0the organizations they led paid for the infamous anti-Trump dossier<\/a>?<\/p>\n John Podesta and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., both privately denied to congressional investigators that they had any knowledge of the hiring of Fusion GPS, the opposition-research firm that deployed\u00a0former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to compile the salacious and largely debunked dossier, according to three sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN.<\/p>\n But the interviews of the two Democratic Party leaders took place\u00a0prior to\u00a0the bombshell report by the Washington Post revealing the role of the Clinton campaign and the DNC.<\/p>\n Marc Elias<\/p><\/div>\n Two New York Times reporters already have accused the Clinton campaign \u2013 and Elias, specifically \u2013 of a cover-up.<\/p>\n As CNN put it: \u201cTheir remarks to congressional investigators raise the stakes in their assertion that they knew nothing about the funding because it\u2019s against the law to make false statements to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n CNN sources further disclosed that sitting next to Podesta during the interview was his attorney, Marc Elias.<\/p>\n Elias was there in his capacity as Podesta\u2019s lawyer, not as a witness. But the Post\u2019s investigation identified Elias \u2013 the general counsel for the Clinton campaign \u2013 as the one who\u00a0hired Fusion GPS to continue research on Trump on behalf of the campaign and DNC.<\/p>\n Times reporter Kenneth Vogel tweeted that when he tried to report the Clinton campaign\u2019s connection to the dossier, Elias \u201cpushed back vigorously,\u201d saying, \u201cYou (or your sources) are wrong.\u201dTwo New York Times reporters already have accused the Clinton campaign \u2013 and Elias, specifically \u2013 of a cover-up.<\/p>\n The White House correspondent for the Times, Maggie Haberman, tweeted: \u201cFolks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.\u201d<\/p>\n Late Wednesday,\u00a0a complaint was filed with the Federal Election Commission<\/a>\u00a0charging Clinton\u2019s campaign and the DNC violated campaign finance law by failing to disclose payments for the Trump dossier.<\/p>\n Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, on a tour to promote her book about the 2016 election, \u201cWhat Happened,\u201d hasn\u2019t spoken on the record about the Post\u2019s revelations.<\/p>\n Her former campaign spokesman Brian Fallon, however, has left open the possibility that she knew. Fallon told CNN on Wednesday: \u201cShe may have known, but the degree of exactly what she knew is beyond my knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n In an editorial Thursday, the Washington Examiner pointed out<\/a>\u00a0that Clinton\u00a0wrote about the dossier in her new book.<\/p>\n She wrote that the intelligence community \u201ctook the dossier seriously enough that it briefed both President Obama and President Elect Trump on its contents before the inauguration.\u201d<\/p>\n Clinton said the FBI \u201cbegan investigating a dossier prepared by a well-respected former British spy that contained explosive and salacious allegations about compromising information the Russians had on Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n The Examiner editorial board said that in \u201chindsight, how queer that Clinton should have written about and talked up this dossier as though she had been a mere observer of the events that led to its creation and use.\u201d<\/p>\n But the paper said it\u2019s \u201cno surprise that Clinton or her staff would play dumb about this.\u201d<\/p>\n More Podesta allegations<\/b><\/p>\n Tuesday night, a source claimed that the Podesta Group, run by John Podesta\u2019s brother Tony, is a\u00a0target\u00a0of\u00a0special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s investigation of Russian influence on the 2016 election<\/a>. Mueller isn\u2019t focused on Trump but on former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort\u2019s role as a liaison between Russia and the Podesta Group, the source said.\u00a0NBC News reported Monday<\/a>\u00a0the Mueller probe had expanded to the Podesta Group.<\/p>\n The Podesta Group also has a tie to the Uranium One scandal \u2013 the deal approved by Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration that coincided with millions in donations from uranium interests flowing to the Clinton Foundation \u2013 which returned to news headlines last week.\u00a0The Hill reported<\/a>\u00a0that before a government panel in which Hillary Clinton was a member approved the sale of a company controlling 20 percent of U.S. uranium reserves, the FBI was sitting on evidence Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to expand Moscow\u2019s nuclear business in the U.S.<\/p>\n The Podesta Group\u00a0received $180,000 from Uranium One<\/a>\u00a0to lobby Hillary Clinton\u2019s State Department, according to Open Secrets.\u00a0Meanwhile, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported Monday<\/a>\u00a0the secretive, Kremlin-linked, green-energy company for which John Podesta served as a board member, Joule Unlimited, apparently met its demise because of Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 election loss.<\/p>\n WND reported last year<\/a>\u00a0that Joule received $35 million from a Putin-connected Russian government fund at the same time Hillary Clinton spearheaded the transfer of U.S. advanced technology, some with military uses, as part of her \u201creset\u201d strategy with Russia.<\/p>\n Senate to further question Democrat leaders?<\/b><\/p>\n CNN said Thursday that Senate investigators could further question Podesta and Wasserman Schultz about the dossier.<\/p>\n In the interview with Podesta, in September \u2013 with Marc Elias at his side \u2013 the former Clinton campaign chief was asked whether or not the campaign had a contractual agreement with Fusion GPS, according to one of CNN\u2019s sources Podesta<\/p>\n Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.<\/p><\/div>\n Much of the discussion, a source said, centered on how hackers got access to troves of his private emails, which were published by WikiLeaks during the campaign. Investigators brought up Fusion GPS toward the end of the interview, according to the source, who noted it was not a focus for the investigators.<\/p>\n Elias is a partner with Perkins Coie, the Seattle-based international law firm that hired Fusion GPS.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>