Marc Elias, Russia Dossier Architect, Calls Documented Iranian Election Interference a 'Big Lie'

Elias, who helped manufacture the debunked Steele dossier, dismisses years of confirmed Iranian meddling in U.S. elections.

Published on Mar. 2, 2026

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Marc Elias, the Democratic super lawyer who helped manufacture the debunked Steele dossier in 2016, spent his Saturday dismissing years of documented Iranian election interference as a fabrication. The former Hillary Clinton campaign general counsel shared a screenshot of President Trump's Truth Social post about Iranian influence operations targeting the 2020 and 2024 elections and declared it "the next Big Lie."

Why it matters

Elias's dismissal of confirmed Iranian election interference comes despite years of the Democratic party and media demanding that Americans treat foreign election meddling as an existential threat to democracy. The double standard highlights how the focus was never really about truth or election integrity, but about political utility.

The details

As general counsel for the Clinton campaign, Elias hired Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump, leading to the creation of the infamous Steele dossier. The Senate Intelligence Committee found that Elias directed the research and built a legal firewall around it. Meanwhile, the FBI was unable to corroborate a single substantive allegation in the Steele dossier, and the Federal Election Commission ruled that the Clinton campaign and DNC violated federal laws by misreporting the purpose of the Fusion GPS payments.

  • In October 2020, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe announced that Iran had obtained voter registration information and was actively targeting American voters.
  • In March 2021, the Biden administration's ODNI report confirmed that Iran carried out an influence campaign during the 2020 U.S. election season intended to undercut the reelection prospects of former President Trump.
  • In 2024, the FBI, ODNI, and CISA acknowledged "increasingly aggressive Iranian activity this election cycle, specifically influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting presidential campaigns."

The players

Marc Elias

A Democratic super lawyer who helped manufacture the debunked Steele dossier in 2016 and is now dismissing years of documented Iranian election interference as a fabrication.

John Ratcliffe

The former Director of National Intelligence who announced in October 2020 that Iran had obtained voter registration information and was actively targeting American voters.

Donald Trump

The former president whose Truth Social post about Iranian influence operations targeting the 2020 and 2024 elections was dismissed by Elias as "the next Big Lie."

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The takeaway

Elias's dismissal of confirmed Iranian election interference, despite years of the Democratic party and media demanding that Americans treat foreign election meddling as an existential threat, highlights the double standard and how the focus was never really about truth or election integrity, but about political utility.