Concerning justification, the scales of justice for Stone were far from level. He was immediately caught up in traversing a liberal minefield. The basis for the underlying investigation was a false narrative, emanating from the Steele Dossier – a document initiated at the request of Hillary Clinton to find dirt on Trump and later paid for by both her and the Democratic National Committee. The gist of the dossier was that Trump was colluding with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election. A recent ruling in a British court involving a lawsuit against the Steele Dossier author affirms the report's ultimate client was Clinton's campaign.