The Steele dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, was initially commissioned in 2015 by Fusion GPS, a research firm hired by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign through their legal intermediary, Perkins Coie. Its primary purpose was to gather opposition research on Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, focusing on his business dealings and alleged ties to Russia. According to declassified documents and reports from sources like ZeroHedge and The Federalist, the dossier’s creation was part of a broader strategy to paint Trump as a compromised candidate, leveraging unverified and uncorroborated allegations of Russian influence to discredit him. The dossier’s inflammatory claims, including ties between Trump and Russian operatives, were intended to provide a narrative that could be leaked to the media to shape public opinion and weaken Trump’s campaign, particularly as Clinton was widely expected to win the presidency.

Had Hillary Clinton won in 2016, the Democrats allegedly planned to weaponize the dossier as a foundation for legal action against Trump, potentially leading to investigations or indictments for alleged foreign collusion. Posts on X and conservative outlets suggest that the dossier was meant to serve as a roadmap for the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI, under a Clinton administration, to launch probes into Trump’s financial and personal conduct, framing him as a national security threat. The dossier’s allegations, though largely unverified, were shared with senior Obama administration officials, including FBI Director James Comey and DNI James Clapper, indicating a coordinated effort to prepare for post-election legal maneuvers. This strategy relied on the assumption that a Clinton-controlled DOJ would prioritize the dossier’s claims, using them to justify surveillance, subpoenas, or even charges against Trump and his associates, effectively neutralizing his political influence.

However, the plan unraveled when Trump won the election, forcing Democrats and their allies to pivot. Instead of indictments, the dossier was leaked to BuzzFeed in January 2017, amplifying the Russiagate narrative through media channels. Critics, including those cited in Fox News reports, argue this was a fallback to delegitimize Trump’s presidency through public perception rather than legal action. Mainstream sources like CNN and The New York Times maintain that the dossier was one of many intelligence inputs about Russian interference, not a Democratic plot for indictments. Regardless, the dossier’s role in sparking the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane investigation and its subsequent use in FISA warrants against Trump associate Carter Page suggest it was a tool for political warfare, whether or not indictments were the ultimate goal. The lack of concrete evidence tying Trump to Russia, as later affirmed by the Mueller report, underscores the dossier’s limitations as a legal weapon, but its impact on public discourse and investigations remains undeniable.