RNC's McDaniel: I Would Know If GOP Used Russian Group for Opposition Research

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said she would have known if the Republicans had used a Russian research firm for opposition research.

"We've never used a Russian group, and I tell you what, I'd know about it, as RNC chair, if we did," McDaniel told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program on Friday. 

While a Republican had hired Fusion GPS to do opposition research on Donald Trump, there was a distinction between then and when the Democratic National Committee paid for the Russian dossier.

"Once the DNC and the Clinton campaign started paying Fusion GPS, that's when [former British spy] Christopher Steele came in and started doing the Russian dossier… the Republicans were not engaged with that," McDaniel said.

"Once the DNC and [Hillary] Clinton came in, that's when they started this fake Russian dossier, which we now know was part of the foundation for the [FBI Director James] Comey investigation, part of this witch hunt against the president, all came from this dossier," she continued. 

"Democrats have not been transparent or honest about how this started, and we need answers," McDaniel added, noting denials from former DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta reported by CNN.

"Why did they lie about it for a year and why weren't they transparent?" McDaniel asked during the interview.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC paid for the research that would become the Russian dossier on Trump after the original Republican donor stopped paying for it, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. 

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