Putin Says Dossier Is An Obama Administration Attempt To Undermine Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the outgoing Obama administration of trying to undermine President-elect Donald Trump, saying that allegations in the dossier published last week are fake.

Speaking after a meeting with the president of Moldavia, Putin said the dossier was part of an attempt by the Obama administration to undermine the Trump's "legitimacy," the AP reported.

When asked about Trump's alleged sexual activities with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel, Putin said the allegations were "fake."

He later pointed out that Trump worked for years on Miss Universe, so why would he be interested in Russia's prostitutes, although Putin added that they are the best in the world, according to the Kremlin pool journalist.

Spy agencies around the world are digging into Trump’s Moscow ties

The dossier alleging that the Russian government has compromised President-elect Donald Trump has not only been circulating at the highest levels of the the US government, but also among the intelligence agencies of other countries, two Israeli intelligence officers told BuzzFeed News.

And while the dossier's claims haven't been verified, the officers said that intelligence services from other countries have been doing their own digging into Trump's connections to Moscow.

"You can trust me that many intelligence agencies are trying to evaluate the extent to which Trump might have ties, or a weakness of some type, to Russia," one of the intelligence officers said.

Read more here.

—Sheera Frenkel

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence will look into Russian involvement in the presidential election, including possible links to individuals in Donald Trump's campaign, the chairman of the committee announced Friday in what is a reversal of his earlier position.

"We believe that it is critical to have a full understanding of the scope of Russian intelligence activities impacting the United States," Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) said in a joint statement.

The announcement came one day after Burr told reporters that the issue did not fall under the committee's scope.

"We don't have anything to do with political campaigns," Burr said Thursday, according to Politico.

The inquiry will look at the intelligence collected by various agencies regarding Russian activities during the presidential election and any possible links "between Russian and individuals associated with political campaigns."

"The Committee will follow the intelligence wherever it leads," including interviewing members of both the incoming and outgoing administrations, according to the statement.

According to the announcement, the scope of inquiry will include:

• A review of the intelligence that informed the Intelligence Community Assessment "Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections"

• Counterintelligence concerns related to Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, including any intelligence regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns

• Russian cyber activity and other "active measures" directed against the U.S., both as it regards the 2016 election and more broadly.

In December, Burr's office stated the committee planned to review cyber activity conducted by the Russian government and aimed at the presidential election, as well as "other specific aspects of Russian behavior."

This new review, however, will also include possible links between the campaigns and the Kremlin.

—Salvador Hernandez

FBI Director James Comey was the one who briefed Donald Trump about a report alleging Russia had damaging personal and financial information about the incoming president, CNN and ABC News reported Thursday.

Trying to push back against the allegations made in the report, Trump did not say during a news conference Wednesday whether he was briefed on the allegations included in an intelligence synopsis, stating only that he read about them outside the meeting.

His former campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also said on Late Night With Seth Meyers the president-elect was not aware of the report and, in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, avoided the question altogether.

But on Thursday, CNN and ABC News reported the head of the FBI had a one-on-one with Trump last week to discuss the allegations made in the dossier.

BuzzFeed News published the 35-page document that the briefing was based on.

CNN reported that the heads of the US intelligence agencies decided Comey should be the one to brief the incoming president about the incendiary allegations compiled by a private security company.

—Salvador Hernandez

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday intelligence officials briefed him and President Obama about the unverified claims made about Donald Trump out of concern the information may leak, the Associated Press reported.

Biden told the AP he was initially surprised officials felt the need to brief him over unsubstantiated claims, adding that "it's something that obviously the agency thinks they have to track down."

The vice president added that he and Obama did not request additional details.

"As a matter of fact, the president was like, 'What does this have anything to do with anything?'" Biden said. Intelligence leaders responded, "Well, we feel obliged to tell you, Mr. President, because you may hear about it. We're going to tell him," referring to Trump.

Biden also took issue with Trump's public denouncement of US intelligence officials and his comparison Wednesday of US spy agencies to Nazi Germany.

"The one thing you never want to invoke is Nazi Germany, no matter what the circumstances," Biden said. "It's an overwhelming diversion from the point you're trying to make."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday night that he is dismayed by leaks to the press, and that intelligence agencies have not made any judgment as to whether the documents published by BuzzFeed News are "reliable."

At a news conference earlier in the day, Trump suggested the leak of the document might have been made by the intelligence community.

Clapper, however, addressed that concern to the president-elect.

"I do not believe the leaks came from within the IC," Clapper said in a statement referring to the intelligence community. "We both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security."

Clapper also stated that while intelligence agencies have "not made any judgment that the information in this document is reliable," it was included "to ensure policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matter that might affect national security."

—Salvador Hernandez

Walter Shaub, the director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), criticized the president-elect's plan to place his business interests in a trust, saying it "doesn't meet the standards" that previous presidents have met over the past 40 years.

"The idea of setting up a trust to hold his operating businesses adds nothing to the equation," Shaub said at the Brookings Institution Wednesday. "This is not a blind trust — it's not even close."

Shaub, who has been calling for Trump to divest himself from his financial interests, said Trump's proposed plan doesn't even meet the standards some of his cabinet picks are meeting, pointing specifically to secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson's actions to remove himself from his financial interests at ExxonMobil mean he "is also forfeiting bonus payments worth millions. As a result of OGE's work, he's now free of financial interests."

Trump's plan to have his children lead the trust, however, does not meet the same goals, Shaub said.

Trump will continue to be personally aware of his companies and buildings, as well as his financial interests.

"That's not how a blind trust works," Shaub said.

He asked for the president-elect to continue to work with his office, and to remove himself from his financial interests.

"The signals a president sends set the tone for ethics across the executive branch," he said.

Though doing so could be deemed a "sacrifice," Shaub said it's no more significant than the sacrifice others make to serve their country.

"He's going to be asking his own appointees to make sacrifices. He's going to be asking our men and women in uniform to risk their lives in conflicts around the world," Shaub said in his prepared remarks. "So, no, I don't think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the president of the United States of America.

—Salvador Hernandez

BBC reporter says other intelligence agents knew about compromising Trump tapes

The dossier of allegations that Donald Trump was compromised by Russia has been circulating among journalists and politicians for months, but on Wednesday, BBC reporter Paul Wood said he had heard similar allegations from other sources.

Wood said a member of the US intelligence community told him of compromising material against Trump via a report from an Eastern European intelligence agency. Wood also said a contact with connections to the CIA had told him that Russia had multiple video and audio tapes of Trump in compromising positions.

Wood's report was among the first corroboration of the inflammatory dossier, which was put together by a former British intelligence agent. BuzzFeed News and other media have been unable to verify it.

"Having said all that, nobody's seen this tape," Wood said. "We're talking about intelligence here, and nobody should believe something just because an intelligence agent says it, still less an anonymous intelligence agent."

But, Wood noted, the intelligence was deemed credible enough by the CIA for it to be passed on to President Obama, as well as Trump and congressional leaders.

Several Trump supporters gathered outside Trump Tower in Manhattan on Wednesday — many of them tourists — as the president-elect was holding a press conference addressing the allegations contained in a dossier saying he has deep ties to Russia.

Mary Kelley, who was visiting New York from San Francisco, said she didn't have an opinion yet on the president-elect's reported deep ties to Russia: "I think it's probably fake news, we'll see."

Marc Smith, who said he was an Army veteran from Orlando, said he was unfazed by potentially heavy Russian involvement. "It has happened before," Smith said. "I believe they dabbled in this election; they've been doing it."

And a man who called himself "a proud Trump supporter," John Costa, said: "I don't react to would've, could've, should've, maybe, allegedly. I only react to facts." He added: "I find the rumors that are currently circulating humorous."

Costa also said that the hack of DNC emails, which officials said was done by Russia to benefit Trump, did not concern him. "Everyone engages in hacking. Israel does it. Japan does it. The CIA does it. The FBI does it and Russia does it."

"It's not an isolated incident," he said. "I accept it as, you know, everyday business. It's just the world we live in...someone is probably hacking your phone right now." —Remy Smidt

White House press secretary says Trump hasn't tried to disprove accusations

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the president-elect has fallen short of meeting the "bare standard of transparency" in proving that accusations lodged against Trump are false.

Earnest went on to compare the current accusations to the "birther" conspiracy theory — stoked for years by Trump — that president Obama was not born in the United States.

"The conspiracy theories were propagated even in the face of significant, overwhelming, and convincing evidence," Earnest said, referring to the president's birth certificate.

He went on to say that Obama's administration sought to disprove the claims by providing evidence against it, whereas Trump's administration has taken a different approach.

"There's ample evidence they could marshal to make public, to refute those claims, those accusation they say are baseless, but they refuse to do so," Earnest said. "That kind of secrecy only serves to sow public doubt. If you recall, during the campaign as the president-elect was refusing to release his tax returns, people were asking what he's hiding. People are asking that question again."

Earnest concluded by saying that even though the Obama administration may not always agree with a news organization's editorial decisions, "the administration deeply respects and will protect" them.

"We respect that independent news organizations should make decisions independent of any government interference."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

At his news conference Wednesday, Donald Trump and lawyer Sheri Dillon outlined how he will remove himself from day-to-day involvement in his businesses after assuming the presidency.

Trump's vast network of business interests in the US and around the world have been cited as a major source of potential conflicts of interest for the president-elect.

Who will run the Trump Organization, or run it once he's gone? What about deals with overseas partners?

For a rundown on what will happen to those business ventures as Trump moves into the White House, go here.

—Matthew Zeitlin

Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, has been identified as the author of the unverified dossier on Trump's alleged ties to Russia, the Wall Street Journal reported

Sources told the WSJ that Steele, now a director of a London-based private security and investigations firm, produced the dossier containing explosive allegations of Trump's deep ties to Russia.

Steele, 52, is one of the two directors of the Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd., which, according to its website, was founded in 2009 by former British intelligence professionals.

The firm describes itself as a "leading corporate intelligence consultancy" which provides "senior decision–makers with strategic insight, intelligence and investigative services" to "protect their interests worldwide."

— Tasneem Nashrulla

Trump's message to Putin on hacking: "He shouldn't be doing it, he won't be doing it"

Donald Trump said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not have orchestrated the hacking of DNC servers.

"He shouldn't have done it. I don't believe he will be doing it more now," Trump told reporters.

"Russia will have much greater respect for our country when I'm leading it than when other people have led it," Trump said. "We're either going to get along or we're not. I hope we get along, but if we don't, that's possible too."

—Tasneem Nashrulla

Trump criticizes BuzzFeed News as a "failing pile of garbage" after being asked about comparing dossier's publication to "Nazi Germany" tactic

Trump called BuzzFeed News a "failing pile of garbage" for publishing the unverified dossier yesterday.

When asked to clarify his tweet that reads in part, "Are we living in Nazi Germany?" Trump said it was "disgraceful" that intelligence agencies "allowed any information that turned out to be false and fake out."

"That's something Nazi Germany would have done and did do," he said.

Trump went on to say it's "pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press."

"I think it's pretty sad," he said. "First of all, it's illegal."

He went on to say that BuzzFeed News should apologize for publishing the dossier and refused to take a follow-up question, telling a reporter, "Your organization is terrible."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Trump will donate all hotel profits paid by foreign governments to the US Treasury

In order to "do more than what the Constitution requires," Trump's lawyer, Sherri Dillon, said the president-elect will donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotels to the United States Treasury.

"This way it is the American people who will profit," Dillon said, adding that this step will accomplish Trump's desire to be isolated from his business interests.

Dillon said that paying for a hotel room is not a conflict-of-interest gift that violates the Constitution, but Trump decided to donate the profits in order to "do more than what the Constitution requires."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Trump says he has signed documents handing over "complete control" of his business empire to his sons

Pointing to stacks of documents on a table next to him, Trump said he had signed papers turning over "complete and total control" of his business empire to his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

Trump's lawyer, Sherri Dillon, then explained the steps taken by the president-elect that would "completely isolate him from the management of the company."

"He further instructed that we build in protections that will assure the American people the decisions he makes and the actions that he takes as president are for their benefit and not to support his financial interests," Dillon said.

Both Dillon and Trump reiterated that he was "voluntarily" taking this on as the conflicts-of-interest laws did not apply to the president and that he was not required to separate himself from his financial assets.

Dillon said that Trump had instructed her firm to take steps to make it clear "that he is not exploiting the office of the presidency for his personal benefit."

She said that Trump's investments in business assets will be conveyed to a trust prior to his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Dillon said that he had also relinquished leadership and management of the Trump Organization to his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, along with another Trump executive.

"Together they'll have the authority to manage the Trump Organization and will make decisions for the duration of the presidency without any involvement whatsoever by President-elect Trump," she said.

Dillon also addressed questions of why Trump refused to divest and sell his brand. She said that selling would "exacerbate" the possibilities of conflicts of interests as Trump would be entitled to royalties for the use of his brand.

"President-elect Trump should not be expected to destroy the company he built," Dillon said. She also said that selling the entire Trump Organization "isn't even feasible."

—Tasneem Nashrulla

"I'm also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me," Trump says

Trump cited his germophobia as a possible reason as to why the reports from the dossier about alleged lewd acts on a hotel room bed were untrue.

"Does anyone really believe that story? I'm also very much of a germaphobe, by the way, believe me," Trump said.

In earlier comments, Trump cited his high profile as a celebrity businessman as further evidence as to why the unverified allegations in a dossier published on Tuesday were untrue.

"When I leave our country, I'm a very high-profile person, would you say? I am extremely careful," Trump said. "I'm surrounded by bodyguards. I'm surrounded by people."

The president-elect said his awareness of hidden cameras possibly being places in hotel rooms was further evidence of why such a video would not exist.

"You better be careful or you'll be watching yourself on nightly television. I tell this to people all the time," Trump said, adding that "cameras are so small, with modern technology, you can't see them and you won't know." —Talal Ansari

If Putin likes Trump, “that’s an asset, not a liability,” president-elect says

When asked if he accepts the intelligence community's conclusion that Putin aspired to help him during the election, Donald Trump said he considers that an asset.

"We have a terrible relationship with Russia," Trump said. "Russia can help us fight ISIS. If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what, folks, that's called an asset, not a liability."

Trump went on to say that he doesn't know if he is going to get along with Putin, but that he hopes he does.

"But there's a good chance I won't," he said. "And if I don't, do you honestly believe that Hillary would be tougher on Putin than me?"

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Trump says allegations in dossier was "fake news" and "phony stuff"

Trump said it was "an absolute disgrace" that information contained in the unverified dossier was let out.

Without revealing what happened at the meeting where he was briefed on the allegations contained in the report, Trump said he read the information.

"It's all fake news. It's phony stuff. It didn't happen," he said.

Trump said it was a group of his opponents that "got together — sick people — and put the crap together."

He said the the report should never have been released and that it was "an absolute disgrace" that it was released.

Addressing the hacking of the DNC servers, Trump said, "I think it was Russia." —Tasneem Nashrulla

Trump says dossier might have been released by the intelligence agencies

President-elect Donald Trump, speaking at his first press conference since July, said it would "be a tremendous blot on their record" if intelligence agencies leaked the dossier, published by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday night, that contained unverified reports about Trump's ties to Russia.

The President-elect also thanked news organization that did not report on the dossier, and singled out "primarily one group," most likely a reference to BuzzFeed News, "and one television station," a reference to a CNN report about the dossier that proceeded BuzzFeed News' publishing of the dossier.

"I do have to say that, and I must say that I want to thank a lot of the news organizations here today because they looked at that nonsense that was released by maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record if they, in-fact did that, a tremendous blot, because a thing like that should have never been written," Trump said. "It should had never been and it should certainly never have been released."

—Talal Ansari

"We published the dossier, which Ken Bensinger obtained through his characteristically ferocious reporting, so that, as we wrote, 'Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government,'" Smith wrote in a memo to staff.

"Our presumption is to be transparent in our journalism and to share what we have with our readers. We have always erred on the side of publishing. In this case, the document was in wide circulation at the highest levels of American government and media. It seems to lie behind a set of vague allegations from the Senate Majority Leader to the director of the FBI and a report that intelligence agencies have delivered to the president and president-elect," he wrote.

—David Mack

Vice President–elect Mike Pence called publication of unverified dossier an effort to "demean" Trump

Vice President–elect Mike Pence slammed BuzzFeed News' decision to publish a dossier, calling it a "a concerted effort … to delegitimize this election and to demean our incoming administration."

Pence said it was irresponsible to run with "the false and unsubstantiated report, when most news organizations resisted the temptation to propagate this fake news," adding that the American people "are sick and tired" of mainstream media attempting to demean the president-elect.

"But today, we'll get back to real news, to real facts," Pence said.

At the start of his opening remarks, President-elect Trump called the dossier "nonsense" that "should have never been written … and certainly never have been released."

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer called BuzzFeed News' publishing of the unverified dossier "outrageous and highly irresponsible"

Spicer began Wednesday's press conference by addressing the unverified report published by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday night that contained explosive allegations about Trump's deep ties to the Russian government.

"It's frankly outrageous and highly irresponsible for a left-wing blog that was openly hostile to the president-elect's campaign to drop highly salacious and flat-out false information on the internet just days before he takes the oath of office," Spicer said.

Spicer called BuzzFeed News' decision to publish the dossier and CNN's decision to first report that President Obama and President-elect Trump had been briefed on it a "sad effort to get clicks."

"The report is not an intelligence report, plain and simple," Spicer said, also denying specific allegations in the report about Trump's aids and advisers.

"For all the talk lately about fake news, this political witch hunt by some in the media is based on some of the most flimsy reporting and is frankly shameful and disgraceful," Spicer concluded.

—Tasneem Nashrulla

Ahead of Trump's press conference, three men placed a stack of files next to Trump's podium.

At 11 a.m. ET, three men brought stacks of files on a small table right next to the podium from where the president-elect will be speaking.

No details at this stage about their content.

—Tasneem Nashrulla

Here are the things you need to know about the fallout from the dossier, published yesterday by BuzzFeed News, alleging that Donald J. Trump has deep ties to the Russian government.

Read more.

—Anthony Cormier

In a statement Wednesday, McCain said that late last year, he received "sensitive information that has since been made public."

"Upon examination of the contents, and unable to make a judgment about their accuracy, I delivered the information to the Director of the FBI," McCain said.

—Tasneem Nashrulla

In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, Kellyanne Conway responded to the claims levied against President-elect Donald Trump in an unverified dossier, saying that "we should all be increasingly concerned that we have 'intelligence officials' divulging information in an unsourced, unnamed fashion to the rest of us."

"I don't even think this is fake news, I think it is just fake, I would take the news word right out of it," she added. She referred to the dossier as an "internet report," adding that "there's a lot of crap on the internet, as we all know."

Conway said we can't know for sure that this report was mentioned to President Obama and President-elect Trump in a recent intelligence briefing. "We don't know that for a very simple reason: Nobody is allowed to talk about what occurs in this intelligence briefings," she said.

She refuted claims in the dossier that stated that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen secretly traveled to Prague in August 2016 to meet with Kremlin officials. Conway said she was with the president-elect and Cohen last night and saw Cohen's passport that proves he was not in Prague in August. In fact, she said, Cohen had traveled with his son to USC to meet with the school's baseball coach at that time.

Conway went on to say that a lot of people in the mainstream media interfered in the election to help Hillary Clinton win and they failed.

"On great days we were ignored and on most days we were mocked," she said.

—Jessica Simeone

Moscow has rejected unverified claims about President-elect Donald Trump's ties to the Kremlin that are made in a dossier circulating among US law enforcement agencies and senior politicians, stating that the allegations are intended to damage US and Russian relations.

In a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the document was "an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations."

"The Kremlin has no compromising dossier on Trump, these allegations are untrue and are totally made up," Russian news agency TASS reported Peskov as saying Wednesday. "This is called pulp fiction and [such publication] is an obvious attempt to harm our bilateral relations."

—Rose Troup Buchanan

A dossier making explosive — but unverified — allegations that the Russian government has been "cultivating, supporting and assisting" President-elect Donald Trump for years and gained compromising information about him has been circulating among elected officials, intelligence agents, and journalists for weeks.

The dossier, which is a collection of memos written over a period of months, includes specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives, and graphic claims of sexual acts documented by the Russians. BuzzFeed News reporters in the US and Europe have been investigating various alleged facts in the dossier but have not verified or falsified them. CNN reported Tuesday that a two-page synopsis of the report was given to President Obama and Trump.

Now BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government.

—Ken Bensinger, Miriam Elder, Mark Schoofs

Top inauguration planner Tom Barrack told pool reporters on Tuesday that the event planners are focused on avoiding "a circus-like celebration" when the new president is sworn in next week.

Pool: Talking about actors… How concerned are you that you have enough performers, people to do readings, songs, all of that? Are you satisfied that you have what you need to fill the day, as it were? A typical inauguration day? Barrack: Overwhelmed. We're fortunate in that we have the greatest celebrity in the world, which is the president-elect; side by side is the current president. … So what we've done instead of trying to surround him with what people consider A-listers is we are going to surround him with the soft sensuality of the place. It's a much more poetic cadence than having a circus-like celebration that's a coronation. That's the way this president-elect wanted it. I think it will be contributive. It will be beautiful. The cadence of it is going to be "let me get back to work." Pool: Tell us what he has told you he wants? What are some specific [things] he wants to be part of the day? Barrack: He really wanted it to be about the people, not about him. So his instructions to me — by the way, which is the worst job in America; he gave the best job in America to all the bright people, he gave the party to me —was to figure out how to relate 200 years of history … and couple hundred billion dollars in investments in a moment where we have to build bridges. He knows what his constituency is and he knows you need to reach out to constituencies who have questions, who have doubts. His instruction to me was the campaign is over, I am now president for all the people. I want you to build a bridge and tie them back in. I want to heal the wounds and I want to get back to work on Saturday morning. Pool: Any new traditions? Barrack: It's a delicate balance between abiding by tradition and the president-elect … having his own fingerprint on a fresh canvas. Mostly he's abiding by tradition especially in the swearing-in ceremony. In the moment, when you look up that west Capitol entrance and that shift of power, in a moment goes from a very strong powerful man of one party to another very strong powerful man of another — that cadence and tradition of America allowing the power to change like that, it's sacred. So he's kept that pretty much the way it is.

—Katherine Miller

Approximately 60 Hispanic leaders met with Trump transition officials Tuesday as Sen. Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing kicked off just four blocks away.

In the room at Hillsdale College's Kirby Center, where they were offered coffee and Coca-Cola, groups like National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) — some of whom endorsed Hillary Clinton during the campaign — joined members of Trump's Hispanic advisory council, for a wide-ranging conversation on how the incoming administration can better serve the Hispanic community, according to five meeting participants.

— Adrian Carrasquillo