By Chuck Ross
An alleged source for the Steele dossier is seeking $1 million in an online fundraiser to combat “the Deep State” and “fake news consortium.”
Sergei Millian, a Belarusian-American businessman, set up the fundraiser on GoFundMe.
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“Most of the pertinent details stay hidden from public view by a well-organized campaign of disinformation, twisting facts, and/or purely inaccurate reporting,” Millian wrote in a vaguely worded pitch that does not mention the dossier.
Millian has been identified as a source for some of the most salacious allegations made in the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC). As “Source D” and “Source E” in the dossier, Millian is behind the claim that the Kremlin has blackmail material on President Donald Trump. According to the recent book “Russian Roulette,” Millian unwittingly spoke to a source who was working for Steele as part of his investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia.
Millian, who is chairman of an obscure trade group called the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce, has claimed in the past to have worked for the Trump Organization, the Trump family’s real estate company. He has said in previous interviews that he helped broker real estate deals on behalf of Trump’s company involving Russians.
But some in the Trump orbit have accused Millian of lying about his links to Trump. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has called Millian a “phony” who overstated his ties to Trumpworld.
Even Glenn Simpson, the founder of the firm who hired Steele, believed Millian was “a big talker,” according to the “Russian Roulette.”
“Had Millian made something up or repeated rumors he had heard from others to impress Steele’s collector? Simpson had his doubts. He considered Millian a big talker,” reads the book, written by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.
Millian did have extensive contact with at least one member of the Trump campaign.
In July 2016, Millian reached out to Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos through LinkedIn to request a meeting. The pair met several times during the campaign.
Millian, whose real name is Siarhei Kukuts, has stayed out of the public spotlight since being identified as a dossier source. Congressional investigators have tried in vain to interview him.
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