Page:Simpson-transcript-redacted.pdf/79

Glenn SimpsonPage 79 something in particular as a trigger. I mean, the basis for the request was he had made a number of trips to Russia and talked about doing a number of business deals but never did one, and that struck me as a little bit odd and calling for an explanation.

You know, in the background of all international business is questions about corruption. The Trump organization had branched out all over the world in like the four to eight years prior to 2016. So in any kind of investigation you would naturally want to know whether there was some issue with improper business relationships.

I'll just stress that we weren't looking for — at least it wasn't at the forefront of my mind there was going to be anything involving the Russian government per se, at least not that I recall.

Q. So at the time you first hired him had it been publicly reported that there had been a cyber intrusion into the Democratic National Convention computer system?

A. I don't specifically remember. What I know was that there was chatter around Washington 1-800-FOR-DEPO