According to reports, Sen. John McCain associate, David Kramer, has asked a federal judge to seal the deposition he gave in a lawsuit connected to the now discredited Steele dossier. According to the Daily Caller‘s Chuck Ross, Kramer’s lawyer, Aleksej Gubarev, believes releasing the deposition would create a media firestorm, jeopardizing his client’s personal safety.

The seemingly desperate request strikes an odd tone after lawyers for Glenn Simpson reportedly pressured Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to release the Fusion GPS founder’s interview transcripts with Congressional investigators. Why would Kramer, a figure undoubtably with a lower profile than Simpson, be more fearful for his life than the man at the center of the Steele dossier scandal?

Daily Caller reports:

David Kramer, a former State Department official and former director at the McCain Institute for International Leadership, filed a motion in federal court in Florida asking a judge for a protective order to block the public release of his deposition. TRENDING: Crowd Begins Chanting "Fill The Seat" at Trump Rally in North Carolina - President Trump Announces He Will Name Nominee this Week - A WOMAN Kramer was deposed last month by lawyers for a Russian businessman suing BuzzFeed News for publishing the dossier. The lawyers for the businessman, Aleksej Gubarev, are interested in Kramer because he is one of just a few people known to have handled the dossier after it was completed by former British spy Christopher Steele and before its Jan. 10, 2017 publication. […] Kramer was interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee last month and has also met with the Senate Intelligence Committee. […] He asserted that Kramer’s deposition in the BuzzFeed lawsuit “would reveal the extent of the Congressional Committees’ knowledge regarding the information provided by Mr. Kramer in closed-door sessions.”

Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson personally gave Senator John McCain (R-AZ) a copy of the now discredited dossier. Earlier reports suggested that McCain was made aware of the dossier from British associates, but was never in possession of the document’s final draft.

“A new book out by Guardian journalist Luke Harding [“Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win,”] provides previously unknown details about the Trump dossier and its author, former British spy Christopher Steele,” writes the Daily Caller’s Chuck Ross.

Daily Caller reports:

It has been previously reported that McCain was aware of the dossier before it was published by BuzzFeed on Jan. 10. He was told of its existence in Nov. 2016 by Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador and associate of Steele’s. It was also known that a copy was passed to McCain and his associate, David Kramer. […] “Les than twenty-four hours later, Kramer returned to Washington. Next, Simpson shared a copy of the dossier confidentially with McCain.”

In a section of Ross’ piece subtitled “Reporters at competing outlets cooperated on anti-Trump efforts,” it’s reveals that mainstream media reports, fiercely competitive over scoops and exclusives, colluded together in an effort to push Trump-Russia hysteria.