While compiling the dossier, Steele passed some of his findings to both British and American intelligence services. DNC officials denied knowing their attorney had contracted with Fusion GPS, and Steele asserted he was not aware the Clinton campaign was the recipient of his research until months after he contracted with Fusion GPS. In June 2016, Fusion GPS subcontracted Steele's firm to compile the dossier. BuzzFeed 's decision to publish the reports without verifying their allegations was criticized by journalists and defended by a court ruling. It also alleges that Russia sought to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy. The dossier's 17 reports allege that Trump campaign members and Russian operatives had conspired to cooperate in Russia's election interference to benefit Trump. Steele, a former head of the Russia Desk for British intelligence (MI6), was writing the report for the private investigative firm Fusion GPS, who were paid by Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The dossier, leaked by BuzzFeed News in January 2017, without its author's permission, is an unfinished 35-page compilation of raw intelligence based on information from anonymous sources known to the author, counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele.
However, some aspects of the dossier have been corroborated, namely that Putin and Russia actively favored Trump over Clinton, and that many Trump campaign officials and associates had multiple secret contacts with Russians. Five years later, it was described as "largely discredited", "deeply flawed", and "largely unverified". The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the government of Russia prior to and during the 2016 election campaign.