Fusion GPS cofounder Glenn Simpson has struck a deal to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee, as probers seek more information on the shadowy firm that helped produce the ‘dirty dossier’ and worked with a Kremlin-linked lawyer.
Simpson’s attorney, Josh Levy, announced the deal in a statement, where he credited a leadership change at the committee that took place after Rep. Devin Nunes of California stepped back from many Russia-related matters.
The deal gives another investigative panel a crack at untangling the role of a shadowy firm that contracted an ex British spy to build a dossier with salacious and unfounded claims about Donald Trump during a trip to Moscow before the presidential campaign.
‘We are pleased to announce that the House Intelligence Committee, under the signatures of Mr. Conaway and Mr. Schiff, has agreed to withdraw Mr. Nunes’ subpoena served on Mr. Simpson, Levy wrote, in referenced to Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas and Adam Schiff of California.
STORY TO TELL: Fusion GPS cofounder Glenn Simpson has agreed to be interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee
‘Mr. Simpson will instead sit for a voluntary interview next week, and nothing will be said at that interview — per the agreement of Mr. Conaway and Mr. Schiff — that shall interfere with Mr. Simpson’s ability to assert privileges in this investigation,” he said, Politico reported.
“We are pleased that reason ruled the day, so that we can move forward,” Levy said. Simpson spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee this summer under similar terms.
Under Rep. Nunes, the panel had subpoenaed Simpson. Fusion GPS has sued to try to protect its client list.
As a result of the wrangling, it was revealed that Democratic lawyer Marc Elias contracted the firm, which in turn paid ex British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to compile the dossier. A Republican donor had earlier paid the firm to begin the research.
BUSY: Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya met with Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS both before and after her meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in June 2016, it was reported
Simpson’s lawyer is maneuvering to protect his right to plead the Fifth Amendment and exercise his right against self-incrimination.
The mysterious role that political intelligence firm Fusion GPS played in 2016 took a new turn Tuesday as it was revealed the firm’s cofounder met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer at the time e met with the president’s son about dirt on Hillary Clinton.
Simpson, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, met with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya both before and after her meeting withDonald Trump Jr., Fox News reported.
He was with her just hours before the June 9, 2016 meeting, at her side in a Manhattan federal court, according to the report.
The firm also worked on behalf of Russian firm Prevezon, which was fighting sanctions after allegedly committing an alleged money laundering scheme.
Simpson told the Judiciary panel in a closed hearing there was no connection between his work on the dossier and research involving a Russian lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in 2016 after the promise of dirt on Hillary Clinton, Reuters reported.
Veselnitskaya has crusaded for years to try to roll back the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions in response to the killing of Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Russian prison after exposing an alleged fraud.
Court records and emails reviewed by the network corroborate the statement by a source, who also said they were together after the infamous Trump Tower meeting.
That meeting occurred after a British music PR dangled the possibility of dirt on Hillary Clinton, and the president’s eldest son took him up on the offer.