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Clapper specifically instructed Comey to only brief President Trump on the “salacious details”. Comey’s briefing of President-elect Trump created the very excuse for CNN to run the story.  

Clapper specifically instructed Comey to only brief President Trump on the “salacious details”. Comey’s briefing of President-elect Trump created the very excuse for CNN to run the story.  

An hour later CNN linked to BuzzFeed making the ''Clinton-Steele dossier'' public.<ref><small>4. One of the seventeen reports in the Dossier—CIR 112—accused the Plaintiffs of criminal conduct and participation in an alleged Trump-Russia scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Defendants knew that this Report was not verified, and that it defamed Plaintiffs on its face. Defendants could easily have removed that Report from the Dossier before they started peddling the Dossier to media and journalists in September and October 2016. They chose not to do so. Nor did they attempt to determine the veracity of that Report with the Plaintiffs themselves.

An hour later CNN linked to [[BuzzFeed]] making the ''Clinton-Steele dossier'' public.<ref><small>4. One of the seventeen reports in the Dossier—CIR 112—accused the Plaintiffs of criminal conduct and participation in an alleged Trump-Russia scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Defendants knew that this Report was not verified, and that it defamed Plaintiffs on its face. Defendants could easily have removed that Report from the Dossier before they started peddling the Dossier to media and journalists in September and October 2016. They chose not to do so. Nor did they attempt to determine the veracity of that Report with the Plaintiffs themselves.

5. At all times during the Defendants’ engagement of Orbis and Steele, it was either intended or clearly foreseeable that the Dossier’s contents would be republished (in whole or in part) to third parties, either by the Defendants themselves or their clients. Indeed, that is the entire purpose of “oppo research” in politics. Those third parties included government officials, as well as news media and journalists who could make its content public.

5. At all times during the Defendants’ engagement of Orbis and Steele, it was either intended or clearly foreseeable that the Dossier’s contents would be republished (in whole or in part) to third parties, either by the Defendants themselves or their clients. Indeed, that is the entire purpose of “oppo research” in politics. Those third parties included government officials, as well as news media and journalists who could make its content public.

6. On information and belief, Defendants arranged for Steele to brief selected members of the print and online media about the information he was compiling on candidate Trump. Consistent with the intended purpose of “oppo research” to publicly discredit its target, Steele’s briefings were designed to generate interest in the Dossier and secure its eventual public dissemination. Briefings were held for journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, Yahoo News, and others in September 2016. Shortly thereafter, Yahoo News published an article by Michael Isikoff that described some of the content of the Dossier (referred to there as “intelligence reports” and “reports”), which was still being compiled at that time.1

6. On information and belief, Defendants arranged for Steele to brief selected members of the print and online media about the information he was compiling on candidate Trump. Consistent with the intended purpose of “oppo research” to publicly discredit its target, Steele’s briefings were designed to generate interest in the Dossier and secure its eventual public dissemination. Briefings were held for journalists from the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, Yahoo News, and others in September 2016. Shortly thereafter, Yahoo News published an article by Michael Isikoff that described some of the content of the Dossier (referred to there as “intelligence reports” and “reports”), which was still being compiled at that time.1