Trump's lawyer sues BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS for defamation over the Russia dossier: report

Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen filed a defamation suit against BuzzFeed, Fusion GPS and Glenn Simpson for publishing the unverified Russia dossier, Bloomberg reports.

The move comes as Senate Democrats on Tuesday released testimony from Simpson, whose firm was hired to conduct opposition research on Trump. Fusion GPS brought on former British M16 agent Christopher Steele, who compiled the collection of memos alleging extensive ties between Trump and the Russian government, and collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin.

BuzzFeed's decision to publish the full contents of the Russia dossier last January prompted Trump to label the website a "failing pile of garbage." In an op-ed published Tuesday, BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief Ben Smith defended the sites' decision to publish its contents in full.

In a separate statement, BuzzFeed News argued the "public interest [in the dossier] is obvious," noting that both Trump and former President Barack Obama were presented with the documents' contents.