Person Who Delivered the FusionGPS Pee-Pee Party Dossier to BuzzFeed Identified, Lawyers Say

A Russian named in that dossier and accused of hacking the DNC is suing BuzzFeed for defamation, claiming innocence.

BuzzFeed has actually apologized for naming him.

The lawsuit also seeks the name of the man who passed BuzzFeed the document containing this alleged defamation -- but BuzzFeed won't reveal it, claiming they have journalistic privilege to not name sources, despite being a Listicle Farm and despite putting this unvetted crap up on the internet when no other journalists would.

The court upheld the bizarre claim that BuzzFeed is a journalistic operation and not just a place you go to find out which Friends character you are or read about Thirty Things That Only a 90s Kid Would Remember. So the court ruled BuzzFeed didn't have to produce the name.

But the lawyers for the Russian say that they've discovered the name of the person passing the dossier by means other than subpeona. They're not saying who it is yet, but they say it's not good news for BuzzFeed.

Not sure why they'd say that -- I don't see how any name would be embarrassing for BuzzFeed.

But anyway, here's Chuck Ross at the Daily Caller:

"As it turns out, we were able to get the information we wanted and were actually in the process of withdrawing the Motion when this decision issued."

"And while I cannot as of yet reveal this information, it is certainly not something I would celebrate if I was BuzzFeed," he added.

Gurvits was unable to identify BuzzFeed’s source because of a gag order imposed on the case, he said.

...

While Gurvits said he is as yet unable to reveal the BuzzFeed source, the universe of people who handled the document is exceedingly small.

Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele, had access to the report. But its lawyers have denied in court filings that the company provided the dossier to BuzzFeed.

Steele has denied in court filings in London, where he is being sued by Gubarev, that he gave the dossier to BuzzFeed. Arizona Sen. John McCain has also denied being BuzzFeed's source. The Republican was provided a copy of the dossier last December.

One person known to have handled the dossier who has not publicly denied being BuzzFeed's source is David Kramer, a State Department official who served as an executive at the McCain Institute.

Well, we'll have to see.

Coincidentally -- or not coincidentally -- a House panel just interviewed David Kramer about this on Tuesday.

posted by Ace at 04:11 PM

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