Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis delivered to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump told a midterm crowd that former First Lady Melania Trump did not believe the salacious allegations in the Steele dossier, former British spy Christopher Steele’s infamous and now-debunked investigative file about the Trump campaign’s alleged contacts with Russia. The investigation, funded by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee, alleged among other things that Trump paid prostitutes in Moscow to urinate on a hotel bed once used by Barack and Michelle Obama. “It wasn’t good for me to go home that night and explain to the First Lady,” Trump said at a Monday night rally supporting GOP Senate candidate JD Vance. “It was not a good file.” “JD, you never want to do that,” the former president said with a smile, addressing the Ohio Republican. “Never. That was not good.” Trump, a known germaphobe, said his wife did not believe the allegations. “He told me, ‘I know this is none of your business,’” Trump said. “You know why? Because I’m a freaking germ.” In March, the Federal Election Commission fined the Clinton campaign and the DNC for failing to properly disclose the more than $1 million it poured into the investigation. Democrats funded the investigation through the law firm Perkins Coie, which hired the investigative team Fusion GPS, the team it then tasked Mr. Steele with continuing his investigation. The former Secret Service agent argued that his work was unverified, warranted further investigation and was not intended for public consumption. However, the contents of the dossier were leaked in January 2017, just as Mr Trump was due to take office. In October, the trial of Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst whose claims helped create the dossier, began. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Danchenko lied to the FBI when the agency interviewed the analyst in 2017 as it sought to verify allegations in the dossier. Officials say the analyst fabricated a purported anonymous phone call believed to be from Sergey Milian, the former head of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, and falsely claimed he never spoke to Charles Dolan, a Democratic operative. The analyst maintained that he has always been honest with the government. Despite the fact that it began six years ago, “Russiagate” continues to influence US politics. Earlier this week, a key Putin ally admitted publicly for the first time that Russia interfered in the US election and “will continue to interfere.”
