http://www.realclearinvestigations....secret_of_the_trump-russia_investigation.html “Dirty Little Secrets” is a substantial piece of work, boasting more than 200 interviews and delving deeply into the shenanigans of Clinton-era political figures – activities that seem almost quaint in light of the accusations against Fusion GPS. The book’s tone is relentlessly strait-laced, taking particular umbrage at the then-nascent industry of opposition research and other efforts to “spread lies, rumors and innuendo” about candidates. “Most opposition researchers claim to pay attention mostly to legislative votes and floor statements to see if their opponent’s words jibe with his or her record,” Simpson and Sabato wrote. “Without question, many abide strictly by this unwritten code. Yet many of their brethren also examine highly personal information, with the result that issues often surface that are only marginally related, or even completely unrelated, to the office being contested.” More than 70 pages are devoted to painting then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a “House-wrecker” whose operations represent a low point in hardball politics. This section is liberally salted with quotes from Leon Trotsky, apparently aimed at likening Gingrich to the early Soviet revolutionary. Several chapters argue that oppo research, push-polling, and other forms of negative campaigning prevent effective governing. A full chapter is devoted to vote fraud, a problem widely minimized on the left today; a subchapter on California is titled "The Golden State for Vote Fraud." ... The actions decried in “Dirty Little Secrets” seem pretty tame compared to what its co-author did after hanging out his own oppo research shingle. Fusion GPS was reportedly first retained by a “Never Trump” Republican to gather compromising Russia-related dirt on candidate Trump. After Trump sewed up the Republican presidential nomination, that donor source dried up. However, the lucrative funding was reportedly continued by Democratic interests, whom Simpson refuses to identify. While the GOP primaries wound down, Fusion GPS retained the British consultancy Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd. in June 2016, according to former spy Steele’s testimony to the British court. It was Steele who procured the document’s most sensational claims about Trump – involving kinky sex with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room. Old associates, who unanimously praised Simpson’s work for the Journal, were at a loss to explain how this high-minded journalist ended up where he is today. But investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson tags Simpson as representative of a trend in her new book, “The Smear: How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote.” She places Simpson among a cadre of former reporters who have transferred their skills from the cash-strapped world of journalism to the lucrative vocation of political skullduggery. In his previous profession, the meticulous Simpson would have sneered at the Russian dossier, which failed to stand up to even cursory scrutiny. It asserted that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with Kremlin officials in Prague last August. But Cohen produced credible evidence he’d never been to Prague in his life. The document’s repeated misspelling of the name of the largest privately owned commercial bank in Russia hardly inspired confidence in the dossier’s unsubstantiated claim that Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russia's state oil company, offered illegal cash payoffs to Trump associates. Implausible too is the claim that Trump had been offered nearly 20 percent of a multi-billion-dollar Russian company. In promoting the dossier, Fusion GPS appears to have gone through the roster of reputable publications before settling on BuzzFeed, which published it in full in January. Nevertheless, the dossier has contributed to the collusion cloud that hangs over Trump, prompting the Justice Department’s appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel as well as Senate and House inquiries. The House Intelligence Committee this month subpoenaed the Federal Bureau of Investigation over documents related to the dossier. The FBI has been criticized by conservative media for its reported use of the dossier’s claims and sources. ... “I haven’t read his book, but Glenn Simpson is the definition of sleazy opposition research,” said William Browder, a hedge fund manager who campaigns for the Global Magnitsky Act, a sanctions law aimed at certain Russians after the 2009 death in custody of his lawyer Sergey Magnitsky. Browder testified publicly to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July that Simpson was hired by Russian opponents of the law to smear Browder and his associates. Simpson used a variety of weapons, Browder said in an interview, including making stuff up. “In their campaign against us, they weren’t able to find any compromising materials,” he said, “so they invented claims.” The episode suggests Fusion’s adaptability to its paying clients -- whether Russian interests advancing the Kremlin’s aims, or Democrats willing to finance smears portraying Russia as a malign force. ... “The bulk of Glenn Simpson’s clients are criminal entities,” Halvorssen told RealClearInvestigations. “Fusion GPS is hired to destroy whistle-blowers and to block law enforcement by tampering with potential witnesses.” Political consultants quoted in “Dirty Little Secrets “are not much more complimentary. “Simpson apparently reached serious conclusions based on leads or conjecture – he got involved with dirt I have stayed away from,” said Gary Maloney, president of Virginia-based consulting firm Jackson-Alvarez Group. “That doesn’t mean I don’t listen when somebody has a story to tell. But what Simpson seems to have done, at such a high level, is very dangerous.”
A good article from a non-partisan source. The criticism of dirty tricks in campaigns is spot on, and worth the read alone.
