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→Background
==Background==
==Background==
During the [[2012 presidential election]] the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' published an article entitled, ''The President's Hit List.'' [[Idaho]] businessman Frank VanderSloot became the target of a smear campaign since it had been disclosed earlier that he donated $1 million to a super PAC supporting [[Mitt Romney]]. Obama's campaign website teed him up in April of as one of eight "less than reputable" Romney donors and a "bitter foe of the [[gay rights]] movement." VanderSloot's wife donated to an anti-[[gay marriage|gay-marriage]] campaign, of the kind that had passed in 30 or so states. The article read, "Now we learn that little more than a week after that Presidential posting, a former Democratic Senate staffer called the courthouse in Mr. VanderSloot's home town of Idaho Falls seeking his [[divorce]] records. Ms. Strassel traced the operative, Michael Wolf, to a [[Washington, D.C.]] outfit called FusionGPS that says it is "a commercial research firm."<ref>http://www.fusiongps.com</ref> FusionGPS is run by a former ''Wall Street Journal'' reporter, Glenn Simpson, who wouldn't say who is paying him for this high-minded slumming but said in an email that Mr. VanderSloot was a "legitimate" target because of "his record on [[homosexual agenda|gay issues]]."<ref>https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304203604577397031654422966</ref> FusionGPS is the same oufit that later produces the ''Steele dossier''.
==Russian lobbying==
==Russian lobbying==
FusionGPS was hired by the law firm of BakerHostetler to compile a dossier on Bill Browder, a [[London]] banker. Browder lobbied strongly for the [[Magnitsky Act]], or Russia sanctions bill. The bill is named for an employee of Browder who died under suspicious circumstances in a Russian while investigating the loss of $350 million dollars. The sanctions bill must he re-authorized every several years. Glenn Simpson, a founding partner of Fusion GPS, compiled the dossier for the anti-Browder project and worked closely with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer. Denis Katsyv, the owner of Prevezon Holdings, sought to undo and limit the impact of sanctions in the 2016 re-authorization bill. BakerHostetler, the firm representing Katsyv and Prevezon Holdings made a payment to FusionGPS on March 7, 2016, court records indicate. Through October 31, 2016 BakerHostetler paid FusionGPS $523,651.
FusionGPS was hired by the law firm of BakerHostetler to compile a dossier on Bill Browder, a [[London]] banker. Browder lobbied strongly for the [[Magnitsky Act]], or Russia sanctions bill. The bill is named for an employee of Browder who died under suspicious circumstances in a Russian while investigating the loss of $350 million dollars. The sanctions bill must he re-authorized every several years. Glenn Simpson, a founding partner of Fusion GPS, compiled the dossier for the anti-Browder project and worked closely with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer. Denis Katsyv, the owner of Prevezon Holdings, sought to undo and limit the impact of sanctions in the 2016 re-authorization bill. BakerHostetler, the firm representing Katsyv and Prevezon Holdings made a payment to FusionGPS on March 7, 2016, court records indicate. Through October 31, 2016 BakerHostetler paid FusionGPS $523,651.