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Buzzfeed published this PDF alleged to by from a former British intelligence officer containing notable allegations including:

  • The Russian regime has been working with Trump for at least five years
  • Donald Trump engaged in 'golden showers' in a hotel in Russia.

However, elsewhere it is claimed that these documents are a hoax created by 4chan, and ended up being included in a CIA intel brief.

In a story that is getting more surreal by the minute, a post on 4Chan now claims that the infamous "golden showers" scene in the unverified 35-page dossier, allegedly compiled by a British intelligence officer, was a hoax and fabricated by a member of the chatboard as "fanfiction", then sent to Rick Wilson, who proceeded to send it to the CIA, which then put it in their official classified intelligence report on the election.

Are these genuine intel documents, or a hoax?

4chan

Chloe
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dwjohnston
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    How could you, or anyone else here, tell the difference? – user5341 Jan 11 '17 at 15:41
  • For what it's worth to me those look fake. The classification markings disappear from the later memos, and the classification level is way too low (confidential), when it would probably should have been top secret. I'm in the never-Trump camp by the way. – ventsyv Jan 11 '17 at 16:22
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    This can be proved one way or the other by finding a dated fan fiction post to show it was made up. – Chloe Jan 11 '17 at 17:41
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    @Chloe What date do you think such a post should have, in order to show that 4chan is responsible? For a post to lend credibility to 4chan's claim (even at a circumstantial level), an answer would also have to prove that the report did not exist before the date of said post. Otherwise, even if such a post is found, it's also plausible that the post was written by someone who had seen the report (which has allegedly been circulated widely among media/politics people). I don't see how anyone can prove when the report was created. – ff524 Jan 12 '17 at 01:15
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    It may be worthwhile reading Rick Wilson’s denial [here](https://medium.com/@therickwilson/fool-chan-e97fba24384f). The claims he made should be fairly easy to check (especially #3). Maybe somebody finds this useful in writing a proper answer. – Konrad Rudolph Jan 12 '17 at 16:58
  • This question can't be answered properly with the currently available data. – Sakib Arifin Jan 12 '17 at 20:33
  • @MohammadSakibArifin You can vote to close it using the "Questions about unresolved **current events** and issues currently under investigation by a court of law, government, or other similar investigative body are off-topic." close reason. See also [Handling news questions about current events](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/2868/2703). – ChrisW Jan 13 '17 at 12:10

1 Answers1

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It is now known that a former British intelligence officer going by the name of Christopher Steele was responsible for this report.

Christopher Steele, Ex-British Intelligence Officer, Said to Have Prepared Dossier on Trump Christopher Steele, Ex-Spy Who Compiled Trump Dossier, Goes to Ground

Hal T
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    Don't just link news articles. If the linked resources go down so does your answer. Also, fact-check those sources' sources. they might not be primary sources. – Mindwin Remember Monica Jan 12 '17 at 16:52
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    My bad, first post here. – Hal T Jan 12 '17 at 17:01
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    Don't worry Hal, everyone here is here to learn. I didn't downvote your answer, I just pointed out where to improve it. Keep up good job.. – Mindwin Remember Monica Jan 13 '17 at 00:45
  • Of course it's still possible that his Russian sources, in an effort to provide him something for the money he was giving away, just picked up something they found on 4chan ;) – Benjol Jan 13 '17 at 09:58
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    Yes this doesn't answer the question of whether or not it originated on 4chan, it only says that it was reported by Christopher Steele. – ChrisW Jan 13 '17 at 12:11
  • I think it answers the question. The report was not invented on 4chan. It was prepared through a private research firm, for a contract. – Oddthinking Jan 02 '20 at 14:45