The House Intelligence Committee “learned a great deal” during Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony Tuesday about the anti-Trump dossier, California Rep. Adam Schiff said Tuesday night.
Simpson testified behind closed doors as part of the House committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential campaign.
Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, provided no additional commentary on Simpson’s interview. Simpson’s lawyer, Joshua Levy, provided a statement and answered a few questions from reporters.
Levy took a jab at the White House and “its political allies,” who he said “have attempted at every turn to smear Fusion GPS because of its connection to the Steele dossier.”
Levy also said that it “up to the committee” whether to release a transcript of Simpson’s testimony.
The lawyer addressed some of the questions that Simpson likely faced during the hearing.
According to Fox News producer Jason Donner, Levy denied that Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, wrote parts of the dossier.
Former British spy Christopher Steele authored the document, which makes a series of salacious but unfounded allegations about Donald Trump’s activities in Russia. Steele also alleges in the document that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Kremlin operatives during the campaign.
Fusion GPS was paid more than $1 million by the Clinton campaign and DNC for its work on the Trump dossier project. Fusion paid Steele, who is based in London, just $168,000.
Levy also maintained that Simpson was unaware of the infamous June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting until it was reported by The New York Times earlier this year. Simpson was with Natalia Veselnitskaya, one of the meeting attendees, before and after her Trump Tower visit.
Simpson and Veselnitskaya worked together on a pro-Kremlin lobbying project that was unrelated to the dossier.
Levy also denied that Simpson knew that Veselnitskaya took research that he provided her for that project into the Trump Tower meeting.
Asked whether Simpson and Steele have been in touch, Levy told reporters that “they talk from time to time.”
According to Fox’s Donner, Levy also addressed questions about Simpson and Steele’s media outreach effort during the campaign. He said that Steele briefed reporters on at least one occasion. When asked if Simpson also briefed reporters, Levy said, “I believe he has.”
Steele revealed in a London court filing earlier this year that he was directed by Fusion GPS to brief reporters at outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Yahoo! News and Mother Jones about his Trump findings.
Articles referencing Steele’s allegations were published by Yahoo! and Mother Jones in Sept. 2016 and Oct. 2016, respectively.
BBC reporter Paul Wood has reported that Simpson showed him the dossier just before the election. The Daily Caller has also been told that Simpson and Yahoo! News reporter Michael Isikoff are “good” friends. Isikoff wrote a Sept. 23, 2016 article at Yahoo! that cites allegations made in the dossier. But at the time, it was not known that the dossier existed or that the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, or Steele were involved in a Trump investigative project.