Official says Trump was briefed on potentially compromising report

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Top intelligence officials last week told President-elect Donald Trump about an unsubstantiated report that Russia had compromising personal and financial information about him, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.

The briefing about the document was first reported by CNN. A summary of the allegations was attached to a classified assessment of Russia’s attempts to meddle in the U.S. presidential election. Trump and President Barack Obama were briefed separately on the intelligence agency findings last week.

Shortly after news reports were published about the briefing, Trump tweeted: “FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Trump was expected to hold a previously scheduled news conference today to discuss his plans regarding his role with the Trump Organization.

The unsubstantiated dossier on Trump was compiled by a former Western intelligence operative as part of an opposition research project originally financed by a Republican client who opposed Trump and later funded by Democrats, according to Mother Jones, which published an article about the report in October and said the operative had turned over the report to the FBI. The New York Times reported the operative had previously worked for British intelligence. The Associated Press has not been able to substantiate the information in the dossier, which misspelled the name of Russia’s largest bank.

The report had been circulating in Washington for months.