Donald Trump calls himself ‘victim’ over reports Clinton funded Russian dossier research

Donald Trump is a victim, the US president said so himself. Following the report that rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund the research that resulted in the Russian dossier, Trump now portrays himself as the aggrieved party.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that it was the DNC and Clinton’s presidential campaign that funded the research for the dossier. The infamous leaked dossier accuses Trump has long-standing connections to Russia and probably even colluded with the Kremlin during his campaign.

According to the report, Marc E Elias, a reporter for the campaign and the political party, hired Washington firm Fusion GPS to conduct the research. Elias and his law firm, Perkins Coie, retained Fusion GPS from April to October 2016, days before the American Election Day. Before that, an unknown Republican client funded the firm’s research into Trump during the GOP primary.

The company then hired former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele to write the dossier. Elias received Steele’s reports and other documents from Fusion GPS. The dossier was released by Buzzfeed News in January.

Trump, who was given a summary of the dossier in early January, has steadfastly denied the content of the dossier. With the recent claim that Clinton and the Democrats paid for its research, Trump has now portrayed himself as the victim.

He also told reporters that the news was “a very sad commentary on politics in this country.” He called the dossier “fake news” and “phoney,” reiterating that Clinton and the DNC’s move was a “disgrace.”

Former spokesman for the Clinton campaign Brian Fallon denied knowing about the dossier. He said he first learned of it after the election. Nevertheless, if he had received a copy of it earlier, he would pass it along to reporters.

“Opposition research happens on every campaign, and here you had probably the most shadowy guy ever running for president, and the FBI certainly has seen fit to look into it,” he said. “I probably would have volunteered to go to Europe myself to try and verify if it would have helped get more of this out there before the election.”

A DNC rep, meanwhile, claimed that party chairman, Tom Perez, was not aware that Perkins Coie was working with Fusion GPS. But again, the spokesperson that FBI is conducting federal investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. “And the American public deserves to know what happened,” the DNC statement said.