Earlier this week, the Trump administration painted the revelation that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the opposition research conducted by D.C. firm Fusion Gps that lead to the (partly confirmed) pee tape dossier as vindication that President Trump and his associates were innocent of colluding with Russia. Ignored by Trump and many others on the right was the long-reported facts that the opposition research was originally funded by Republicans who only stopped when Trump secured the party’s nomination, at which point the Clinton campaign took over funding.

President Trump claimed to have an idea about who had paid for the research originally (most likely Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz, others speculated), the real culprits have revealed themselves: The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website closely aligned with the Never Trump movement. Representatives of the website told House Intelligence Committee they were behind the operation on Friday.

The Free Beacon reportedly hired Fusion GPS to begin conducting opposition research against Donald Trump and several other Republican contenders in October 2015 and ended their relationship with the firm in May 2016. In April 2016, the Clinton campaign and the DNC retained Fusion GPS to begin research into Donald Trump’s connections with Russia, at which point the firm brought on former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele.

The Free Beacon is funded by Peter Singer, a hedge fund billionaire, and major Republican donor. Singer originally supported Marco Rubio’s bid to be the Republican nominee, but lead an effort against Trump securing the nomination after Rubio dropped out of the race.

(Via New York Times)