Fusion GPS, the Democrat-funded opposition research firm, allegedly paid Steele with money from a Clinton backer. The dossier eventually fell into the hands of the FBI.
The White House and Trump allies also have cited a reported meeting between a DNC consultant and officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C., last year.
“If you are looking for an example of a campaign coordinating with a foreign country or a foreign source, look no further than the DNC which actually coordinated opposition research with the Ukrainian Embassy,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.
“This is not an accusation. That is an on-the-record action that they took,” Sanders said.
The meeting Sanders referred to was first reported in January by
Politico. The report cited a meeting between Ukrainian government officials who allegedly tried to help Clinton undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office and shared research and damaging information on Trump and his advisers with Clinton allies.
The Politico investigation exposed that a Ukrainian-American DNC operative -- Alexandra Chalupa, who worked in the Clinton White House -- met with officials in the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in an effort to expose ties between Trump’s then-top campaign official Paul Manafort and Russia. Manafort later resigned.
“Hillary’s staff should not have taken—former Hillary staffers should not have taken the meeting with Ukrainian government,” Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush and now a Fox News contributor, said on “Outnumbered” Tuesday.
Trump unloads on Hillary over double standard, amid reports Dems also got foreign help