Fusion GPS

Fusion GPS is a Washington based company that does opposition research. They will check out any group or organization to find illegal or unethical activities that can then be used to discredit the group. While this is often directed at political groups it is not limited to politics. In September 2015, Fusion GPS was hired by The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political website, to do opposition research on Trump and other Republican presidential candidates. When Trump became the nominee the program stopped and in April of 2016 the Democratic National Committee reopened the research against Trump. They hired Christopher Steele a British PI to look into Russian connections with Trump and he produced the Trump-Russian dossier. Steele also alleges that Trump has deep financial ties to key Russian figures that the Kremlin could use to blackmail him, and it contains a series of lewd allegations about the president. Listening in on conversations by Trump associates required getting permission from the state department and the FBI both of which occurred during the Obama administration. The main question is whether this dossier was used as the reason to select the special prosecutor. Congressional committees are investigating Fusion but so far the special prosecutor Meuller has not shown much interest and this has led to some speculation as to his involvement. He was head of the FBI when much of this was going on.