FEC fines Hilary Clinton campaign, DNC for improperly disclosing money spent on Trump-Russia dossier

The Federal Election Commission fined Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee for failing to properly report funding on opposition research into the Steele dossier, which examined former President Donald Trump's alleged links to Russia.

In a letter sent by the FEC to both parties on Tuesday, the agency said the Clinton campaign and the DNC wrongly reported the money they spent funding the dossier, labeling the spending as legal services and compliance consulting.

Political candidates and groups are required to publicly disclose their spending to the FEC, which is responsible for enforcing campaign finance law in the US, and explain the purpose of any cost that exceeds $200.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC were fined by the FEC.

The campaign has more than $181,000 in the bank, which is enough to pay the FEC fine.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the FEC Commissioners voted 4-2 to approve the fine agreement, with all three democrats voting in favor along with Republican Sean Cooksey. The board's two other Republicans voted against it.

Christopher Steele, a former UK intelligence officer, prepared the notorious "dossier" that included a lot of false and unconfirmed claims about the relationship between Trump and members of the Russian intelligence community, as well as assertions that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin in the 2016 election.

Much of the information within the document has since been denied. Steele said that his research was not meant for public viewing, but his memos were leaked just weeks before Trump took office.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC paid a law firm more than $1 million to conduct opposition research, according to a letter from the FEC. Steele was hired by FusionGPS to create a report.

Steele, Perkins Coi and FusionGPS were all dismissed by the FEC.

Neither the DNC, nor a representative for Clinton responded immediately.

The Clinton Campaign and the DNC did not admit to violating campaign finance laws, according to the FEC letter, however, they did agree to accept the civil fines to settle the matter.