Free Republic

WASHINGTON A Russian venture capitalist and tech expert whose name and company are mentioned in the now-notorious document alleging connections between the Donald Trump campaign and Russian hackers says no intelligence officers have ever contacted him about the accusations, which he says are false. A report compiled by a former Western intelligence official as opposition research against Trump was made public Tuesday when BuzzFeed posted its 35 pages. The document included unsubstantiated claims of collusion between the Trump campaign team and the Kremlin. It also alleged that global tech firm XBT Holding, with operations in Dallas, was instrumental in the...

A former State Department official and associate of Sen. John McCain has invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in connection with questions from the House Intelligence Committee about the anti-Trump dossier’s Russian sources, according to a law enforcement source. David J. Kramer, who is a central player in how the unverified Trump dossier made its way to the FBI in late 2016, testified before the committee in December in a closed-door session, indicating he had information about the dossier's sources. A subpoena was issued for mid-January, as first reported by The Washington Examiner. The law enforcement source confirmed,...

In a procedural ruling Friday before the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, former British spy Christopher Steele was ordered to appear for a videotaped deposition in London on June 18 for ongoing civil litigation brought against Buzzfeed by a Russian technology executive, Aleksej Gubarev. A last-ditch effort by Buzzfeed's legal team was denied today in their efforts to expand and question Steele about "the dossier as a whole" instead of a more limited area of questioning in the ongoing civil litigation in the UK. In the 15-page ruling obtained and reviewed by Fox News, Mr. Justice Jay wrote...

On Friday District Judge Amit P. Mehta upheld BuzzFeed’s motion to compel the U.S. government to answer questions about the infamous Christopher Steele dossier. BuzzFeed published the dossier in January 2017. At the time, it reportedly proved collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and contained allegations about a “pee-pee tape.” The dossier’s allegations were unverified and relied on political opposition research. Aleksej Gubarev sued the Internet news outlet for defamation because the dossier included a paragraph that falsely said his company Webzilla was plotting to breach the Democratic Party’s cybersecurity. BuzzFeed is claiming “fair report privilege,” which grants protection...

A Russian-tied tech firm named in a controversial dossier containing uncorroborated allegations about President Donald Trump and the hacking of Democratic National Committee email accounts announced late Friday that it has filed defamation suits against the online news site BuzzFeed, its editor in chief and a former British intelligence agent. The lawsuits were brought by XBT Holdings, a Cyprus-based company owned by Russian tech magnate Aleksej Gubarev. Lawyers for his firm filed complaints Friday in London against the former spy and his company, and against BuzzFeed and its editor in chief, Ben Smith, in Broward County Circuit Court in Fort...

A Russian tech executive suing BuzzFeed News for defamation has formally subpoenaed Fusion GPS, the firm that commissioned the uncorroborated anti-Trump dossier that BuzzFeed published earlier this year.Attorneys for Aleksej Gubarev, the CEO of Webzilla and XBT Holdings, disclosed in a court filing on Friday that they have subpoenaed the Washington, D.C.-based Fusion GPS as part of the suit against BuzzFeed...Gubarev is suing BuzzFeed because he and his companies are identified in the last of 17 memos that make up the dossier, which the website published on Jan. 10...In a Dec. 13 memo, the last of 17 memos that make...