Washington: The writer of Trump-Russia dossier, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele in an unreleased report on ‘ President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state’, reportedly claimed that Russia believed that it effectively stopped former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney to become Trump’s secretary.
Steele reportedly wrote the separate memo in November 2016 citing a senior Russian official’s claim that the Kremlin believed it had managed to influence the US president to favour a more Russia-friendly option who could help ease the sanctions over Ukraine crisis, The New Yorker reported on Monday.
The unreleased memo claimed that Russia could have persuaded Trump asking for a secretary of state who could possibly reduce sanctions put in place for its annexation of Crimea and work with Russia on security concerns, quoted Newsweek.
Steele furthermore cited a Russian source and wrote that Trump and Russia had been closely connected since 2013.
Romney was encouraged to go for the position after Trump had defeated Hillary Clintons. Even after a dinner together at Trump Tower, Trump did not offer Romney the spot and opted for former ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson, who has a long relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump and his administration have denied the allegations of the ties with Russia, however, Trump’s attitude and policies have remained questionable towards Putin.
The US president and those who are close to him, called the dossier fake publicly on many occasions while pointing out that Clinton’s campaign had started paying research firm Fusion GPS—which hired Steele.