Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund a political... (Associated Press) FILE - In this March 21, 2016, file photo, attorney Marc Elias, one of several lawyers who appeared in the in the case of Wittman v. Personhuballah, stands on the plaza of the Supreme Court in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund political research into President Donald Trump that ultimately produced a dossier of allegations about his ties to Russia, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday night. It was not immediately known how much money Fusion received or how many others in the Clinton campaign or DNC were aware that the firm had been retained. A spokesperson for a law firm said on Tuesday that it had hired Washington-based researchers last year to gather damaging information about Mr. Trump on numerous subjects — including possible ties to Russia — on behalf of the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. According to a letter obtained by the AP Tuesday night, representatives of Fusion GPS reached out to the firm in early March 2016 to express interest in continuing research on Trump it had begun "for one or more other clients during the Republican primary contest." The deal began in the spring of 2016, when the firm was approached by Fusion GPS, the political research firm behind the dossier, and lasted until right before Election Day, according to the person. The person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential client matters, said the arrangement was brokered by Marc Elias, a lawyer for the campaign and the DNC, and his law firm of Perkins Coie. They have challenged the information contained in the dossier, which was compiled by a former British spy who had been contracted by the Washington research firm Fusion GPS. Elias did not immediately return an email seeking comment, and representatives of Fusion GPS declined to comment. Clinton campaign officials did not immediately comment, but in a statement, a DNC spokeswoman said chairman Tom Perez was not part of the decision-making and was unaware that Perkins Coie was working with Fusion GPS. "But let's be clear, there is a serious federal investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and the American public deserves to know what happened," the statement said. Former Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said on Twitter that he regretted not knowing about Steele's hiring before the election, and that had he known, "I would have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him." Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund a political... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this March 21, 2016, file photo, attorney Marc Elias, one of several lawyers who appeared in the in the case of Wittman v. Personhuballah, stands on the plaza of the Supreme Court in Washington. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) 
 
 "The first I learned of Christopher Steele or saw any dossier was after the election," Fallon said. The letter, sent Tuesday by the general counsel of Perkins Coie to a lawyer for Fusion GPS, was intended to release the research firm from its obligation to keep confidential the identity of the law firm client. Yet the FBI has worked to corroborate the document, and in a sign of its ongoing relevance to investigators, special counsel Robert Mueller's team — which is probing potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign — weeks ago questioned the former British spy, Christopher Steele, who helped compile the claims in the dossier. The dossier, which circulated in Washington last year and was turned over to the FBI for its review, contends that Russia was engaged in a longstanding effort to aid Trump and had amassed compromising information about him. [FBI once planned to pay former British spy who authored controversial Trump dossier] 
 
 Trump has adamantly denied the allegations in the dossier and has dismissed the FBI probe as a witch hunt. Trump has also attacked the findings of the FBI, NSA and CIA that Russia waged a large-scale influence campaign to interfere in the election. According to a copy of the dossier published by BuzzFeed this year, the earliest report from Steele dates to June 2016, two months later. The dossier created a political firestorm in January when it was revealed that then-FBI Director James Comey had alerted Trump to the existence of allegations about him and Russia. Since then, Trump has repeatedly attacked the document and Republicans in Congress have worked to discredit it, even issuing a subpoena that seeks to force the disclosure of Fusion GPS's bank records. ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Chad Day and Ken Thomas contributed to this report. The revelation, which emerged from a letter filed in court on Tuesday, is likely to fuel new partisan attacks over federal and congressional investigations into Russia’s attempts to disrupt last year’s election and whether any of Mr. Trump’s associates assisted in the effort.
– Funding for research included in the explosive dossier on President Trump's Russia connections came from none other than the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, per reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times. A letter filed in court Tuesday details how research firm Fusion GPS began working in April 2016 for a law firm employed by the Clinton campaign and the DNC to gather damaging information on Trump. According to the letter, Fusion GPS had already been doing research on Trump on behalf of one of the Republican's primary opponents before it was hired by Perkins Coie, the firm of Clinton campaign lawyer Mark Elias. Trump has long slammed the dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele as politically motivated "fake news." In a tweet last week, Trump wondered whether the FBI, the Democrats, Russia, or all three had funded it. He's now expected to repeat conspiracy allegations, though sources tell the Post and the Times that Clinton and DNC officials were unaware of the role of Fusion GPS. The AP reports the FBI has corroborated parts of the dossier, which alleges Russia worked to help the Trump campaign and amassed compromising information on him. Former Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon tweeted that if he'd known about Steele's role, he would "have volunteered to go to Europe and try to help him." He added that if the information compiled by Steele helps Robert Mueller's investigation, anything paid to him and Fusion GPS would be "money well spent."