Classified documents that the heads of four US intelligence agencies presented last week to President-elect Donald Trump included claims that Russian intelligence operatives have compromising information about him, two US officials said Tuesday evening.
The information is contained in a two-page memo, attached to a report on Russian interference in the 2016 election that US intelligence officials presented to Trump and President Barack Obama last week. The synopsis in the two pages divulges details of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives, as well as graphic claims of sex acts.
The details documented in the dossier, reportedly by a former British intelligence official – most of whose past work US officials consider credible – are specific, but so far unverified.
The ‘Golden Shower’ Intelligence Report
Among claims made in the dossier, there’s the detail that Trump hired the Presidential suite at the Ritz Carlton in Moscow. According to the report, Trump knew President Obama and his wife had once stayed in the suite.
He allegedly defiled the bed where they slept, by employing a number of sex workers to perform a ‘golden shower’ (urination) show in front of him.
Other claims include details like Russian intelligence providing him information on political opponents, including Hillary for “years.”
He was allegedly also offered real estate deals in Russia for the 2018 World Cup, but turned them down.
Trump Calls It a ‘Political Witch Hunt’
It is believed that the officials took the extraordinary step of attaching the documents to the report, to make Trump aware of the allegations about him circulating in Washington.
They reportedly also wanted to reveal that Russia had potentially explosive information against both the candidates in the 2016 elections, but chose to disclose only information damaging to Hillary Clinton.
Trump responded on Tuesday evening in a tweet:
On Wednesday, he reiterated what he left about the report:
Unverified, but Still Explosive
One of the officials who presented the dossier to Trump last week said the FBI and other US agencies are continuing to investigate the credibility and accuracy of the claims.
The official said investigators so far have been unable to confirm the material about Trump’s financial and personal entanglements with Russian businessmen and others whom US intelligence analysts have concluded are Russian intelligence officers, or working on behalf of Russian intelligence.
Some material in the reports produced by the former British intelligence officer has proved to be erroneous, the official said.
CNN Says Its Reports on the Documents Different Than Buzzfeed’s
CNN, the news division of Time Warner Inc, said on Wednesday its decision to publish "carefully sourced reporting" on the unverified intelligence documents concerning Trump is "vastly different than BuzzFeed's decision to publish unsubstantiated memos."
CNN's statement came after Trump called the news outlet "fake news" and refused to take a CNN reporter's questions on Wednesday at his first formal news conference since his electoral win.
BuzzFeed on Tuesday published the story about the dossier of documents saying they were unverified and the allegations were "potentially unverifiable".
Throughout the news conference, Trump decried a CNN report on the dossier on Tuesday.
There Were Warning Signs Last Year
The charges that Russia has compromising New York real estate businessman Trump were presented to the FBI and other US government officials last summer and have been circulating for months.
The FBI initially took the material seriously, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, which was first reported by CNN.
However, the FBI failed to act on the material, and the former British intelligence officer broke off contact about three weeks before the November election, they said.
The warning of information about Russia's compromising information about the incoming President follows growing US intelligence and law enforcement concerns about what Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has called "multifaceted" Russian influence and espionage operations in Europe and the United States.
The report said US intelligence agencies have concluded that as part of the effort, Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, used intermediaries such as WikiLeaks and others to release emails it hacked from the Democratic National Committee and top Democrats.
What the Obama Admin Has to Say
The Obama administration has maintained its silence on the matter. In his farewell speech, President Obama made no mention of the report and hoped only for a smooth transition.
(With inputs from Reuters, Buzzfeed)