Glenn R. Simpson

Glenn Richard Simpson (born 1964) is an American former journalist who worked for The Wall Street Journal until 2009, and then co-founded the Washington-based research business Fusion GPS.^[2] He was also a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.^[3]

Glenn R. Simpson
Born	1964 or 1965 (age 60–61)[1]
Education	George Washington University (BA)
Occupation(s)	Journalist and author
Known for	Co-founder, Fusion GPS

He is the co-author of Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics written with political scientist Larry Sabato and published in 1996.^[4] A New York Times book review called the book's approach "fiercely bipartisan".^[5]

Early life

Simpson graduated from Conestoga High School in 1982, then went to George Washington University, where his neck was broken in a car crash.^[6]

Career

Before Simpson worked for The Wall Street Journal, he was a reporter for Roll Call, where he broke stories on GOPAC, a political action committee headed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich.^[5]

Simpson left journalism in part to earn more money. Explaining why he left journalism, he quipped: "We don't use the word 'sold out.' We use the word 'cashed in.'"^[7]

Trump opposition research

Main article: Steele dossier

From September 2015 to May 2016, Simpson was retained by a conservative newspaper, the Washington Free Beacon, to collect information on many of the Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump.^[8][9][2]

In April 2016, the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign's law firm, Perkins Coie, retained Simpson's company Fusion GPS.^[9] From April 2016 into early May, the Washington Free Beacon and the Clinton Campaign/DNC were independently both clients of Fusion GPS. In June 2016, Fusion GPS hired Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent, to obtain information on Trump. Steele used his "old contacts and farmed out other research to native Russian speakers who made phone calls on his behalf".^[10] After November 2016, funding from the Democratic Party ceased, and Simpson reportedly spent his own money to fund further work on the dossier.^[11]

Congressional testimony

In 2017 during Congressional inquiries into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Simpson testified before the House Intelligence Committee that Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Ted Malloch, a "significant figure" in the Brexit campaign, had ties to each other.^[12]

On August 22, 2017, Simpson was questioned for 10 hours by the Senate Judiciary Committee in a closed-door meeting. The Committee did not release a transcript of the hearing. Simpson reportedly did not reveal the identities of his clients.^[13] The transcript was unilaterally released by Senator Dianne Feinstein on January 9, 2018.^[14][15]

Publications

External videos
Booknotes interview with Simpson on Dirty Little Secrets, June 30, 1996, C-SPAN
Interview with Simpson on Crime in Progress, December 11, 2019, C-SPAN

• Glenn Simpson and Larry Sabato, Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics, 1996.
• Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, Crime in Progress: Inside the Steele Dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump, 2019.

References

1. "Fusion GPS founder returns to the spotlight for Russia enquires". independent.co.uk. January 11, 2018. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
2. Shane, Scott; Confessore, Nicholas; Rosenberg, Matthew (January 11, 2017). "How a Sensational, Unverified Dossier Became a Crisis for Donald Trump". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 11, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
3. Simpson, Glenn R. (February 10, 2010). "U.S. Identifies Russian 'Nexus' of Organized Crime". International Assessment and Strategy Center. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
4. Larry Sabato (June 29, 1996). "Dirty Little Secrets". NPR (radio program). Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
5. Mitchell, Greg (June 16, 1996). "Politics Most Foul". The New York Times (book review). Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
6. Flegenheimer, Matt (March 31, 2018). "Fusion GPS Founder Hauled From the Shadows for the Russia Election Investigation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
7. Gillum, Jack; Boburg, Shawn (December 11, 2017). "'Journalism for rent': Inside the secretive firm behind the Trump dossier". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
8. Vogel, Kenneth P.; Haberman, Maggie (October 27, 2017). "Conservative Website First Funded Anti-Trump Research by Firm That Later Produced Dossier". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
9. Kranish, Michael (October 27, 2017). "Clinton lawyer kept Russian dossier project closely held". Archived from the original on February 17, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2017 – via www.WashingtonPost.com.
10. Raymond, Adam K. (January 12, 2017). "The Making of the Bombshell Trump Dossier Dominating the News". NYMag.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
11. Sampathkumar, Mythili (August 23, 2017). "Trump-Russia dossier sources revealed to the FBI by Christopher Steele". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017.
12. Prokupecz, Shimon; Herb, Jeremy (March 30, 2018). "Federal investigators question Ted Malloch in special counsel probe". CNN. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
13. Dukakis, Ali; Mosk, Matthew (August 22, 2017). "Attorney: Glenn Simpson did not reveal clients for Trump 'dossier' to investigators". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
14. Cheney, Kyle (January 9, 2018). "Feinstein releases transcript of interview with Fusion GPS co-founder". Politico. Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
15. Barrett, Devlin; Hamburger, Tom (January 10, 2018). "Feud over Trump dossier intensifies with release of interview transcript". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.

External links

• Glenn Simpson (August 22, 2017). "Glenn Simpson's testimony re Trump-Russia dossier" (PDF). Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Dianne Feinstein (redacted transcript). Interviewed by U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
• Appearances on C-SPAN