Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, had to be corrected on air when he claimed the Washington Free Beacon helped fund the Steele dossier.
WATCH:
“The Steele memorandum, of course as you know, was originally started by the Free Beacon, a conservative group, and subsequently continued as paid for by the DNC,” Himes incorrectly stated.
Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade told Himes, “I’m going to have to stop you right there.”
“That’s confusing for our audience. You know that was only looking at… two campaigns and it was only looking domestically,” Kilmeade explained. “There was no Russian contingent… when the Republicans were the vendors.”
To Himes’ credit, he accepted the correction, stating, “The facts are not in question here.”
A number of media pundits and Democrats have repeatedly claimed that conservatives first funded the dossier, ostensibly to debunk the GOP’s argument that the dossier is an unreliable because of its DNC and Clinton funding. (RELATED: Media Still Pinning Steele Dossier On Republicans)
The Washington Free Beacon did pay Fusion GPS for opposition research, but they played no role in the organization’s contract with Christopher Steele or the creation of the dossier.