Election security

Trump dossier writer grilled by authorities as part of lawsuit

Anti-Trump dossier writer Christopher Steele on Monday underwent his first adversarial questioning since his unverified charges were posted by BuzzFeed in January 2017.

Mr. Steele, a former British spy, has so far evaded requests by U.S. congressional committees to appear as a witness.

He is being sued for libel by Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian tech entrepreneur, who Mr. Steele said in his dossier was responsible for hacking Democratic Party computers and infecting them with spyware and pornography.

A British master ruled in March that Gubarev, who is also suing BuzzFeed, was entitled to question Mr. Steele within certain parameters.

The session happened Monday in London.

“I can confirm that the deposition took place today as scheduled, that Mr. Steele appeared, was professional and congenial and that we are satisfied with the results of the deposition,” Val Gurvits, a Gubarev attorney, told The Washington Times in an email. “I cannot, however, give you any details regarding Mr. Steele’s testimony because his entire testimony was designated as confidential by his legal team.”