Fusion GPS Told FBI that Never Trumper Rick Wilson Was a Former Trump Campaign Official

Glenn Simpson, the co-founder of the firm behind the “pee dossier,” bizarrely told United States law enforcement that Never Trumper Rick Wilson was a former Trump campaign official as part of the firm’s effort to push allegations of Russian collusion, according to a new report.

RealClearInvestigations highlighted in a new report that during a December 12, 2016, meeting, Simpson told Justice Department official Bruce Ohr that Wilson was a former Trump campaign official who knew about Trump ties to Russia. Ohr, whose wife worked for Simpson, was acting as a conduit to the FBI for Fusion GPS and dossier author Christopher Steele.

The outlet reported:

On Dec. 12, 2016, the FBI was informed of a new, specific claim from Glenn Simpson, Steele’s patron at opposition research outfit Fusion GPS — a tip with the whiff of a smoking gun: “A former Trump campaign official, possibly Rick Wilson, was talking about some of the Trump ties to Russia and the Trump Campaign tried to sue him for violating his non-disclosure agreement.”

The report showed that even after Fusion GPS’s dossier alleging a Trump-Russia conspiracy failed to derail Trump’s candidacy, the firm was still trying to pass on new tips to corroborate its allegations.

Simpson’s tip was revealed in documents obtained by conservative watchdog Judicial Watch. The documents were “302s” — or FBI interview notes of a witness, in this case, Ohr. (The documents also revealed that Ohr would meet with Steele or Simpson and then pass on the information to the FBI through these interviews, even though the FBI officially had fired Steele as a source in November 2016 after he told media outlets about that role.)

The notes said Ohr had breakfast at Peet’s Coffee in Washington, DC, with Simpson at 10 a.m. on December 10, 2016. “During breakfast Simpson provided OHR with an 8GB Verbatim USB micro digital media drive (thumb drive),” the notes said. Ohr passed on that thumb drive to the FBI.

During that meeting, Simpson said Michael Cohen had “many Russian clients” in the Brighton Beach, New York, area.

Ohr told the FBI that Simpson told him:

Cohen is the go-between Russia and the Trump Campaign and replaced Paul Manafort and Carter [Page]. Cohen’s wife’s last name is Shusterman Cohen may have attended a meeting in Prague, possibly in September, regarding the Trump Campaign and the Russians.

Ohr also told the FBI, “A former Trump campaign official, possibly Rick Wilson, was talking about some of the Trump ties to Russia and the Trump Campaign tried to sue him for violating his non-disclosure agreement.”

According to RealClearInvestigations, the FBI never contacted Wilson — an outspoken Never Trumper — to see if that was true.

“Nope. Not a word,” Wilson told RealClearInvestigations when asked whether he ever heard from the bureau. Asked why Wilson was never contacted, FBI spokeswoman Carol Cratty told the outlet, “The FBI has no comment.”

Breitbart News also reached out to Wilson for a comment but did not receive one by deadline.

As reported by RealClearInvestigations, current and former FBI officials have insisted they had aggressively vetted Steele and Simpson’s claims.

Despite odd claims, such as the one about Wilson, the FBI briefed then-President Obama and President-Elect Trump on Fusion GPS’s dossier, which led to a CNN report on the briefings and subsequently, the publishing of the dossier.