Intelligence agencies have briefed President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump about a "kompromat" (compromising dossier) of personal and financial information, allegedly gathered by Russian spies. The allegations form a two-page synopsis of 35 pages of memos compiled by a retired British intelligence operative working for Trump's political rivals. The material was presented as part of a classified report into Russian interference in the US election.
The information has been circulating since before the US election last November, says Catherine Philip in The Times, but it wasn't until news website Buzzfeed published the documents in full last Tuesday that they became public. The material, currently being investigated by the FBI, has "not yet been corroborated" and contains factual errors.
Trump's response was to tweet, "FAKE NEWS A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT". A Kremlin spokesman also dismissed the allegations, denying that the Kremlin had any kompromat on Trump. The memos suggest that the Kremlin has been trying to "influence and co-opt" Trump for years. They describe alleged meetings during the election campaign between Russian officials and Trump representatives, and include a claim from an unidentified Russian source that Trump and senior members of the team knew about and supported hacking and leaking of Democrat emails.
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The fact that no reputable news organisation has been able to corroborate these charges damages their credibility, says Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times. Some already seem to be "falling apart". However, as the Lawfare blog observes, "the president and president-elect do not get briefed on material that the intelligence community does not believe to be at least of some credibility".
The reason they are so potentially damaging is that they "fit into a broader narrative". The obvious explanation for Trump's repeated refusal to acknowledge Russian interference in the election is that he "resents anything that casts doubt on the legitimacy of his election", but theories that Russian intelligence had some kompromat on him have been circulating for a long time.
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