U.S. investigators have been able to confirm some details of the 35-page dossier claiming Russia has compromising information on President Trump, CNN reported Friday. Up until this point, investigators had been unable to verify the claims asserted in the document, which was compiled by a retired British intelligence agent and revealed to the public Jan. 10.
CNN said that while the dossier's more "salacious" claims remain unverified, investigators have corroborated details about some of the communications "between senior Russian officials and other Russian individuals." The dossier includes "a dozen" conversations between foreign nationals, and investigators have been able to confirm that "some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier" after intercepting communications during "routine intelligence gathering," CNN said. Some of the individuals involved in the intercepted communications were previously found to be "heavily involved" in leaking information from Democratic organizations that proved harmful to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
CNN did not reveal specifics, including whether these latest findings are at all connected to Trump, but the confirmations have given U.S. intelligence "greater confidence" in the dossier's credibility.
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White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded to CNN's request for comment combatively: "We continue to be disgusted by CNN's fake news reporting," Spicer said, echoing Trump's previous dismissals of the reports as "phony stuff." Spokespeople for various intelligence agencies declined to comment.
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