ask you questions initially. If I ask you any question that you don't understand, just ask me to rephrase it.
MR. SIMPSON: Okay.
MR. GOWDY: It won't be a trick question. It will be because I ask it inartfully.
Where do you work and how long have you worked there?
MR. SIMPSON: I work at a consulting firm here in Washington. The trade name is Fusion GPS. The entity, the legal entity is called Bean LLC. And I've been there since I believe 2010. And it's a research consulting firm.
MR. GOWDY: All right. That was my next question. What does Fusion GPS do?
MR. SIMPSON: It's a commercial research firm, sometimes also does strategy, public affairs. The primary line of work we're in is research. Generally, it specializes in public records research, other sort of journalistic style information gathering.
MR. GOWDY: When someone uses the phrase "opposition research," does that mean anything to you? Does that have any trade meaning?
MR. SIMPSON: Well, I was introduced to opposition research when I was a reporter on Capitol Hill. And so the conventional term is usually people who work on campaigns who are looking for information that will be useful in debates or other election related activities is my general historical understanding of the term.
MR. GOWDY: Does Fusion GPS do what you just described as opposition research?
MR. SIMPSON: From time to time. It's not very -- it's not a very big part of our business. Generally, we have -- we work for corporate clients and banks
UNCLASSIFIED, COMMITTEE SENSITIVE
