by Ailan Evans
A Democrat-backed nonprofit intended to combat alleged “disinformation” paid large sums of money to organizations responsible for the Steele dossier, which advanced false claims regarding former President Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia.
The Democracy Integrity Project (TDIP) is nonprofit run by Daniel J. Jones, a former staffer of Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, that has received funding from prominent Democrat and left-wing donors, including George Soros.
The organization’s mission is to “educate the public on matters such as foreign election interference, global extremism, corruption, and coordinated disinformation,” according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
TDIP paid $521,000 to Walsingham Partners LTD and $405,000 to Bean LLC for “research services,” according to 2020 IRS filings. The nonprofit previously provided funding to the two companies in 2017, when it paid $3.8 million to the two firms.
Walsingham Partners is operated by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence agent responsible for creating the Steele dossier that promoted discredited claims related to to Trump’s ties with Russia. These included claims advancing the existence of the now infamous tape that purported to show Trump being urinated on by Russian prostitutes and claims related to Trump’s connections to Russian banks.
Bean LLC is the holding company of Fusion GPS, the research consulting firm also involved in creating and promoting the Steele dossier.
Igor Danchenko, Steele’s chief source for information in the dossier, was indicted by Special Counsel John Durham for making false statements to federal agents related to the claims contained in the dossier.
According to the indictment, another source of information for Steele was Charles Dolan, a former adviser to Bill Clinton and public relations executive.
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Ailan Evans is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Dan Jones” by Influence Watch.
