DNC’s Perez says he learned about Trump dossier ‘a few days ago’

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez said Wednesday night that he only recently learned about the national party’s role in funding a dossier containing unverified allegations about President Trump’s ties to Russia.

Perez, who was Labor secretary in the Obama administration at the time the document was funded and compiled, said he learned about the dossier “a few days ago,” CNN reported. Perez’s comments came during an event at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics moderated by Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty.

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The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC paid millions to the law firm Perkins Coie, which then worked with opposition research firm Fusion GPS to construct a dossier containing scandalous accusations about Trump.

“You hire a lawyer and we hire lawyers all the time who hire third party vendors to do their work and so we knew that we were paying for opposition research at the DNC, but we didn’t ask questions about who they’re hiring in the context of doing their research,” Perez said, according to CNN.

Perez added that he finds the interest in the dossier story “curious,” because candidates frequently conduct research on their opponents.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who was the DNC chairwoman at the time, denied knowing about the arrangement.