Well now, how about them apples?

Seems that the original funder of the Trump-Russia dossier, as reported by The Hill, was the Washington Free Beacon! A media publication!

A conservative publication set in motion the research that lead to a dossier that includes unverified claims regarding ties between President Trump and Russia, the publication told a House committee on Friday.

The Washington Free Beacon originally funded the project through the firm Fusion GPS, a connection the publication’s lawyers revealed for the first time to the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, according to The Washington Examiner.

According to reports, including Byron York’s at the Washington Examiner, the Free Beacon started the project with Fusion GPS in the fall of 2015 and then canceled it in spring of 2016.

Sources close to the Free Beacon stress that the project, when the Free Beacon funded it, had nothing to do with Russia and did not involve Christopher Steele, the former British spy who gathered anti-Trump dirt in Russia. Steele was retained by Fusion GPS when the project was funded by Democrats, and not in its initial phase, when the Free Beacon was involved. [Emphasis Added]

Here’s the thing about this. The Free Beacon’s board of directors at the time of its founding included Bill Kristol, who to this day remains rabidly Anti-Trump. Also, Paul Singer, a major funder for the publication, was strongly opposed to Trump’s campaign.

All of this information was reported to the House Intelligence Committee during today’s hearing. The publication posted a note to their readers, which you can read in full here. It says, in part:

In that capacity, during the 2016 election cycle we retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary, just as we retained other firms to assist in our research into Hillary Clinton. All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele. Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign.

I think the cruise ship just hit an iceberg || Washington Free Beacon funded original Fusion GPS anti-Trump oppo https://t.co/MDiCwgTKyU

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) October 27, 2017

A Titanic sized one I’d say!

Hilarious but not surprising that Hillary carried forth the work of a leading neocon website https://t.co/K9ElMyx8yx

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) October 27, 2017

This really spikes the current Democrat narrative of ‘I didn’t know NUTTIN’!’ See Debbie Wasserman Schultz scramble to avoid questions here:

Democrats' dossier denials pile up. pic.twitter.com/m0NFFhj33m

— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 27, 2017

The head of the DNC at that time ‘wasn’t aware??!’ of what the DNC was paying Fusion GPS to do??!! Wow, that must’ve been a YUUUGE bus that ran over her when she got thrown out of the DNC at the convention!

Rand Paul’s take a couple of days ago is on point:

Millions of taxpayers’ dollars are being spent because the DNC and Hillary REFUSE to admit that they paid Fusion GPS for MONTHS to dig up dirt on Trump.

*Side note: Jeff Flake is an idiot and has always been a Democrat in Republican clothing.

Meanwhile, this is interesting:

NeverTrumper @BillKristol knew Washington Free Beacon started dirty tricks operation with Fusion GPS & said nothing for a yr@RealJamesWoods pic.twitter.com/V8exB0m30O

— Saxon Keel (@KeelSaxon) October 27, 2017

Folks, here’s the deal. The media and Democrats, one and the same really, have been screaming since the week after the election that Trump colluded with Russia! Only he didn’t. They’ve been screaming for months that Fusion GPS was paid for by Trump. But they weren’t. They, as we now know, were paid by the DNC, the Hillary Clinton campaign, and MONTHS prior by the Washington Free Beacon.

Meanwhile, Fusion GPS has until Monday to turn over their records.

NEWS: Federal judge extends deadline for Fusion GPS's bank to provide records related to dossier's funding to House Intel until 9am MONDAY.

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) October 26, 2017

It is going to be a very interesting weekend watching those players attempt to right the sinking Titanic of their narrative and somehow try to convince everyone that Trump still did it! I suggest stocking up on more popcorn as we’ll be seeing some Oscar worthy spins over the next few days.