The British Government issued a White Paper publishing the text of a letter and text purporting to be a proposal for a treaty between Irish Republicans and the government of the Soviet Union. According to the release from the office of UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George, a June 15, 1920 letter was written by Dermot O'Hegarty to Desmond FitzGerald. The letter, said to have been captured in Dublin by British Army intelligence, attached a memorandum written by Patrick McCartan, stating that McCartan was working with American attorney John T. Ryan to negotiate with the Soviets.