Original Fusion Oppo Effort Funded by... The Washington Free Beacon

Best spin: They didn't have journalistic resources of their own so they paid money to outsource them.

Not so good spin: Well, draw your own conclusions.

The Free Beacon was founded in 2012. Its founders included Michael Goldfarb, who has moved back and forth between conservative journalism, politics, and activism. The Free Beacon was originally part of a 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organization called the Center for American Freedom, but in 2014 became a for-profit organization. It has never revealed its ownership.

The Center for American Freedom's original board of directors included William Kristol, the former editor of the Weekly Standard, a sister publication of the Washington Examiner and where both Goldfarb and Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti worked. Kristol is one of the nation's most prominent "Never Trump" activists and during the Republican primary campaign worked to recruit a candidate to challenge Trump for the GOP nomination.

The Free Beacon insists its effort had nothing to do with Christopher Steele, who only came on board when Hillary and the DNC started paying Fusion.

York reports that Free Beacon claims that the oppo research wasn't just about Trump, but about "multiple" candidates:

GPS involved opposition research into multiple Republican candidates, not just front-runner Donald Trump.

Let me guess: Anyone who wasn't favored by the Corporate Class? Like Ted Cruz, too, maybe?

Don't forget: Operatives attempted a hit on Ted Cruz, too, alleging infidelity. I know most people think that was Donald Trump and his pet editor at the National Enquirer, but #SalonHot25 Twitter Nobody "The" Rick Wilson was trying to stoke media interest in what he coyly called "#TheThing" about Ted Cruz for months.

Connected? No idea. Just a data point.

Here's The Free Beacon's modified limited hang-out in which they don't quite come clean and explain which candidates they had FusionGPS snoop into, or why they chose those instead of, say, well, the ones I strongly suspect they didn't pay for oppo on.

Maybe it's time to rethink the idea that Corporate Class should rule the party from the shadows instead of those unwashed populist savages, huh?

posted by Ace at 07:13 PM

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