Paul Manafort was in Spain in January 2017 when the "Trump dossier" was published. He was there to "re-establish" his relationship with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch to whom he owed millions. When the former chairman of Trump's 2016 campaign returned to the United States, he presented Republicans with a plan to discredit the entire Trump/Russia investigation.

In the second episode of Ball of Thread, Marcy Wheeler unwinds how the dossier collected by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele came together and blew up. She also reveals the untold story of Steele's relationship with Deripaska and Deripaska's absolutely brutal double-game.

Find out how Russian disinformation helped shape the stories about the dossier, blurring the Trump campaign's relationship with the Kremlin and strategically polarizing the United States.

Want to know more? Join the Ball of Thread Patreon for bonus episodes on breaking news and to ask your questions, which could be answered in a bonus Q&A episode coming soon. For as little as $1 a month, you can support us and help spread the word.