Cooper Should Fire Attorney Ensnared in Fusion GPS Probe, NCGOP Says | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    The North Carolina Republican Party says Gov. Roy Cooper should fire his lead campaign attorney Marc Elias, who paid for an opposition research dossier that helped spark a probe into whether President Donald Trump's campaign had any ties to Russia.

    NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse said Wednesday from news reports that broke overnight, it "appears to be undisputed that Elias was the bagman for Fusion GPS, funding this effort at the same time he was taking money from Roy Cooper."

    Neither the governor's office nor the state Democratic Party has responded to requests for comment.

    Elias represented Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election campaign. Clinton and the DNC helped fund opposition research into Trump and his campaign. Elias retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to do the work, the Washington Post reported. Fusion GPS hired former British spy Christopher Steele, whose uncorroborated reports were then given to Elias.

    The New York Times reported in January that an anonymous and still unidentified Republican donor first hired Fusion GPS in 2015 to compile a dossier on Trump.