CNN’s Toobin: ‘No evidence’ Wasserman Schultz, Clinton knew about dossier

CNN legal analyst Jeffery Toobin on Friday defended Hillary Clinton and top Democratic officials over their statements that they did not know about a controversial dossier compiled against candidate Donald Trump in 2016, stating that decisions to pursue opposition research are done “on a lower level.”

“You’re saying someone would be going rogue and paying all this money for opposition research without the [Democratic National Committee] head knowing?” asked “New Day” anchor Alisyn Camerota, referring to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who was head of the Democratic National Committee during the presidential race.

“These sorts of decisions are often made at a lower level than that,” replied Toobin.

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“[John Podesta] was the campaign chairman, not the campaign manager. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was completely on the outs with everybody,” he added.

When a co-anchor added that Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook hadn’t testified yet, panelist John Avlon, a CNN contributor and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast, argued that Podesta and Clinton wouldn’t know about the dossier and funding behind it, but Mook likely would.

“When there’s opposition research, the candidate rarely knows. Certainly, the campaign chair wouldn’t know, but the campaign manager usually would,” Avlon said.

The Washington Post’s bombshell report on Tuesday found that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid millions to Perkins Coie, a D.C.-based law firm, where Democratic lawyer Marc Elias collaborated with opposition research firm Fusion GPS to construct the dossier.

Former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele compiled the dossier, which included scandalous, unverified material about Trump.

The dossier is the focus of numerous investigations into Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election.

The Post report has prompted Trump to slam Democrats on the dossier, calling it the “fake dossier” and characterizing it as the foundation of “the whole Russia hoax.”