Sen. Tim Kaine falsely accused the Washington Free Beacon of funding the Russian dossier when it is clear they stopped paying Fusion GPS before the firm worked on the dossier.

WATCH:

The Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign were revealed as funders of the dossier that alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Kaine tried to deflect from that fact during a Tuesday interview on CNN, instead incorrectly blaming the Washington Free Beacon.

“Do you see these things as equivalent–of the Hillary campaign looking for dirt from Russians and Russians offering dirt to the Trump campaign?” CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Kaine.

“If you’re asking about the dossier, that was funded by a conservative, online news publication–the Washington Free Beacon,” Kaine falsely stated. “And they hired a British secret service agent and then when they decided to drop it, apparently…some of the funds used to continue the investigation were used by the Clinton campaign.”

However, reporting indicates clearly that Kaine’s version of events is incorrect.

While the Free Beacon paid Fusion GPS for standard opposition research, Fusion GPS did not contract with ex-British agent Christopher Steele until after the conservative news outlet stopped paying. The creation of the dossier also did not occur until the Free Beacon was out of the equation. Thus, the DNC and the Clinton campaign were solely responsible for funding the creation of the dossier.

It’s odd that Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate, is so uninformed about this timeline.

Follow Amber on Twitter