President-elect Donald Trump has responded to allegations that Russia has compromising information about him.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla.
Evan Vucci
AP
CNN reported Tuesday that Trump was informed of the allegations in a classified intelligence briefing. BuzzFeed has published a 35-page dossier that details these unverified and “potentially unverifiable” personal and financial allegations.
[One of the most salacious details in the document: “golden showers”]
Multiple unnamed sources told CNN the allegations were included in a two-page memo presented to Trump and President Barack Obama as part of an intelligence briefing on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The memo also alleged that there was ongoing communication between Trump’s team and representatives of the Russian government.
Multiple outlets are sourcing the origin of the memos to a former British intelligence operative, who allegedly informed an FBI official in Rome that the Russians possessed the information about Trump. He has not been identified, but CNN reports that he was a former MI6 agent “who was posted in Russia in the 1990s and now runs a private intelligence gathering firm.”
The operative has been investigated and considered to be credible by American intelligence, CNN reports.
The report “originated as opposition research, first commissioned by anti-Trump Republicans and then by Democrats,” CNN says.
CNN did not detail the specific allegations included in the memo because the network has not yet independently confirmed them. They report that the FBI is investigating whether the allegations about Trump are credible.
“The documents have circulated for months, and acquired a kind of legendary status among journalists, lawmakers and intelligence officials who have seen them,” BuzzFeed wrote. Journalists on Twitter said they were approached with the document, but did not write the story because they were unable to verify the claims in the document.
BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith defended his outlets publication of the letter, noting “there is serious reason to doubt these allegations” but “publishing this dossier reflects how we see the job of reporters in 2017.”