This piece is based on two of the transcripts that Adam Schiff was forced to release last Thursday and they are revelatory.
The first concerns Felix Sater (here's the transcript).
The second is from the FBI Agent who handled Christopher Steele (here's the transcript). The agent's name is kept confidential.
If you are the FBI and you are running a counter intelligence investigation into Trump's ties with the Russians you would want Felix Sater, who helped the FBI on several cases involving Russian spies and Russian organized crime. He was a business partner of Donald Trump's since at least 2001. And what does Sater reveal about The Donald's ties to the Russian mob and Russian spies? He exonerates Trump.
Then we have the unnamed FBI handler of Confidential Human Source Christopher Steele. He admits to knowing Sater and some of the things he did for the FBI. Any evidence of Trump cavorting with the Russians? NOPE. After you read the transcript you will appreciate why this FBI agent is not named. He did his job honestly and professionally. In fact, he's the one who terminated Steele as a source.
FELIX SATER:
I have written extensively about Felix Sater, the President/CEO of Bayrock Group, who was an informant for both the FBI and the CIA (you can read my early work on Mr. Sater here and here). His work as an FBI informant began in December of 1998 and then he started providing the CIA with good intel on Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist activities. Felix was born in Russia, speaks Russia and became friends with Michael Cohen (yeah, that Michael Cohen) when they were teenagers.
Felix Sater testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee and confirmed the following:
- He had been working for the FBI and the CIA since December 1998 and provided important intelligence information on terrorism and assisted the FBI in criminal investigations. (see pages 5-12 of the deposition).
- Sater met Donald Trump for the first time in 2000/2001. It was at Sater's initiative (Sater rented space in the Trump Tower). Sater proposed they work on real estate deals. Sater was President of the Bayrock Group (see page 16).
- Trump had not and was not conspiring with Russian intelligence, Russian politicians nor Russian mobsters.
Throughout the lengthy deposition, Sater was repeatedly asked if President Trump had ever conspired, colluded or coordinated with any Russian political leaders or mobsters. He always said "no." Here is the money quote from Mr. Sater's deposition (see page 141):
Question: Returning back to the four parameters of the committee's investigation we discussed sort of at the outset, in our time together today, do you remember the discussion we had about collusion, coordination, and conspiracy?
Answer: Yes, sir.
Question: And I asked you with respect to yourself. I asked you with respect to then-candidate Trump. I asked you with respect to folks affiliated, officially affiliated with the campaign and folks unofficially affiliated with the campaign. Has looking at the documents and all of the discussion we had today changed your answer in any way?
Answer: Absolutely not.
One critical question no one on either the Republican or Democrat side asked him was this, "Has the FBI ever asked you to work as a Confidential Human Source to ascertain if Donald Trump was working for or with the Russians?" I bet you the answer to that would be yes. And Sater's response would be, "I never saw any such thing."
Now we come to FBI Agent John Doe. I came to like this guy the more I read his testimony. The man is a straight shooter.
He met Steele for the first time in April 2010 at the request of Bruce Ohr (see pages 9-10). In the fall of 2013 (I get this date based on some earlier comments by Mr. Doe, the actual year is blacked out--see pages 12-14).
The next big moment in the Christopher Steele saga is July 5, 2016. Following a phone call from Steele requesting an urgent meeting in London, FBI Doe flies to the UK and meets Steele in his Orbis office. Steele shares with him the first report of what we now know as the Steele Dossier. Here's the summary:
2016/080 20 June 2016
Russia cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump since at least 2011.
Trump has declined various real estate deals in Russia but he and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin on his political rivals.
FSB has compromising intel on Trump that they can use to blackmail him (e.g., coprophilia).
A dossier of compromising material on Hillary Clinton is being held by the Kremlin but has not been distributed.
John Doe asked the pertinent questions (see page 22):
Well, my first - one of the first questions I had to him was, do you have any corroboration of this? ls there any independent corroboration,information that you have? ls there a videotape? ls there an audiotape? Do you have anything else? And the answer was no.
We now know, thanks to a subsequent FBI investigation that the source for Steele disavowed these so-called facts. Let's continue.
John Doe returns to his office and subsequently notifies the Assistant Agent in Charge (i.e., ASAC) for Public Corruption in New York City. The ASAC tells him to hang on to the report and does not reconnect with Agent Doe until 28 July 2016. Two weeks passed. Mr. Doe does not know who else was briefed on his report.
The ASAC calls on the 28th and tells Doe to send him the reports. Doe complies. Two days later, according to Doe's testimony:
He contacts me again and says, that information is going to go to the CDC's office in New York,CDC, the local attorneys, FBI attorneys in the field office. They are setting up a special subfile for this information. Just send it directly to them, talk to this one CDC up there and get it to them, and then we'll go from there, okay? (see page 31)
This went right to the top of the FBI according to Agent Doe (see page 32). Here is the curious part--Agent Doe refers to "reports", yet, according to the dates on the Steele Dossier reports, only three had been written (possibly a fourth) by the end of July. Here are the reports and their dates:
1. 2016/080 20 June 2016
2. 2016/94 19 July 2016
3. 2016/086 26 July [Sic] 2016
4. 2016/095 [No Date]
5. 2016/097 30 July 2016
6. 2016/100 5 August 2016
7. 2016/101 10 August 2016
8. 2016/102 10 August 2016
9. 2016/105 22 August 2016
10. 2016/111 14 September 2016
11. 2016/112 14 September 2016
12. 2016/113 14 September 2016
13. 2016/130 12 October 2016
14. 2016/134 18 October 2016
15. 2016/135 19 October 2016
16. 2016/136 20 October 2016
17. 2016/166 13 December 2016
How did those other reports get into the FBI's hands?
Now comes even stranger developments. Listen to what Agent Doe tells HPSCI:
So I have no idea what happened down at headquarters after that.Again, my concern was getting it now to CDC office in New York. And I had spoken with CDC, sent the reports to him in New York, but at that time it was probably -- now we're talking probably middle of August, I think right around that time, the CDC and another ASAC in the counterintel program in New York advised me that, hey, there is a unit in headquarters that needs to see this, some type of investigative unit that's there that you need to send this to.
I said, okay, give me the name and I will send it to them. That took probably another 3 weeks to a month to get lhe name of the person to whom I had to send this information to.
What the hell? The FBI Agent in charge of handling Christopher Steele is completely cut out of CROSSFIRE HURRICANE and given the mushroom treatment (cover with manure and keep in the dark). If CROSSFIRE HURRICANE was a legitimate investigation then why was the guy who has authorized access to Christopher Steele not brought into the circle of trust and asked to get with Steele and confirm details? This is all you need to know that the Steele Dossier was a mere pretext for launching the coup against Trump.
Who was receiving the docs from Steele? It was no longer Agent Doe. He was cut out of the loop. (see page 33).
What is not mentioned in the transcript is that CIA Director Brennan briefed Democrat Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid on the dossier in August of 2016--weeks before Agent Doe had been given a contact at FBI Headquarters for sharing the info he had received from Steele. Further evidence that a joint CIA/FBI plot against Trump was unfolding.
By the end of September, Agent Doe is wondering what is going on. He reaches out to his FBI contact at FBI Headquarter. Doe testifies:
So I reach out to him, I said, hey, let me know, you know, what you think about the information. He emails back, and that was maybe the 23rd, 24th of September, and states that the information that - in the dossier corroborated information that they received [from Alexander Downer] that actually predicated all this investigation.
The next shoe to drop in the life and times of Christopher Steele, idiot spy, comes with the publication in Mother Jones of David Corn's contribution to the covert action against Trump--A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump
Agent Doe was not happy. He was pissed. Doe calls Steele and tells him:
everything is going to change now. I said, you're no longer working to get information on our behalf, you're no longer to goout, a nd we are no longer tasking you. ln addition, you're not going to be paid, and the relationship is going to end. (see page 74)
Where was FBI Headquarters in this debacle? It was Agent Doe who terminated the British goof. Yet, Steele continued to generate reports and passed them on to Bruce Ohr who in turn made sure they found their way into the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE team. And let's not forget that the sanctimonious clown, Jim Comey, was pressing in late December and early January to include the Steele Dossier in the so-called Intelligence Community Assessment that was published in January 2017.
But John Doe was not through blowing holes in the Democrats attempt to manufacture a Russian conspiracy. If you take time to read pages 49-63, you will be treated to a contortionist act by lying Adam Schiff and slimey Eric Swalwell as they try desperately to prove their hair brain conspiracy that Trump was in bed with the Russian mob. In fact, they asked him repeatedly about Felix Sater (apparently Schiff and Swalwell did not understand that Sater was in the FBI's pocket). Agent Doe gave them nothing.
The following exchange with the Republican counsel and Agent Doe plants the exploding cigar directly in the nether regions of Adam Schiff's hopes:
Question: Do you have any information about any of those four individuals (i.e. Russian mobsters) during the course of your investigation that would show Donald Trump undertaking any illegal activities with those individuals or other Russians?
Answer: No.
Question: Do you have any information during the course of your investigations that any of the other Russian individuals named during the course of these proceedings had - would show that Donald Trump had any illegal activities with them or the Russian Government?
Answer: No. (see page 89)
For those of you who are impatient with the progress of John Durham and William Barr is bringing the coup plotters to justice, I hope the foregoing shows you how complicated and voluminous the task is. This is not a two week investigation. But these transcripts show you some of the ammunition that Durham and Barr are collecting and loading. These are deadly facts that Comey, Brennan and even Obama will have trouble running from.
Larry,
I was about to post this as a reply to ‘Jack’ on an earlier thread, but it seems more sensible to post it here.
Jack,
I have long been afraid of ‘limited hangouts.’
If you feed journalists whose investigation are threatening to expose serious malfeasance enough ‘red meat’, which appears to help them, indeed genuinely does so, up to a point, they may very well not notice that they are being subtly diverted from lines of investigation they should be pursuing.
Conspirators can the own up to ‘venial’ sins, such as playing fast and loose with the FISA application process, or credulously accepting duff information from Christopher Steele, while, as it were, very much less ‘venial’, or some might say, ‘mortal’, ones – like involvement in a treasonous conspiracy to subvert the Constitution – are not exposed.
My suspicion has long been that the Horowitz Report may be just such a ‘limited hangout.’
An analysis, which, one the one hand, suggests that Stephen Somma is a key figure in a systematic subversion of the FISA process, while also accepting apparently without question ‘evidence’ from him and his FBI colleagues about interviews in which Christopher Steele’s supposed ‘Primary Sub-Source’ rubbished him, is preposterous.
And indeed, one cannot consistently suggest that Bruce Ohr is a pivotal figure in the conspiracy, and that one can assume that his handwritten notes of conversations, and 302s with him recorded by Joseph Pientka, are accurate. This is what many journalists did, long before Horowitz reported, and I regret to say I myself initially fell into what I now think was a trap.
As to both Barr and Trump, I have been agnostic. I can see arguments for a ‘softly softly catchee monkee’ approach, but also reasons to suspect that the Attorney General may be unenthusiastic about the implications of having too many skeletons falling out of cupboards, as it were.
That said, there can be moments when it becomes clear that the accumulated weight of skeletons pressing upon the door is so great that there is no realistic prospect of keeping many of them from tumbling out.
At that point, people’s calculations may change. For purely opportunistic reasons, as well as others, it may make more sense to join those who are attempting to prise the door open, rather than risk going down in history as one of those who engaged in last ditch attempts to keep it shut.
We may have just seen such a moment.
As usual however, the British end of all this is very poor covered.
Someone gave Chuck Ross of the ‘Daily Caller’ of the transcript of the cross-examination of Steele by Hugh Tomlinson QC, on behalf of the owners of the Alfa Group consortium, Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and German Khan, on 17-18 March.
(I have downloaded it, and am studying it, but unfortunately do not seem able to find the link again.)
While Ross, John Solomon and others have commented on it, there is no visible sign whatsoever that any of them has made any effort to get hold of the four – yes, four, F-O-U-R – clearly mutually contradictory witness statements referred to in the transcript.
Despite what Mr Justice Mark Warby said at the hearing, none of these appear to have been made available on the CE-File service, where material from the case appears totally absent.
What can be traced – and again, I cannot see any journalist who has tried to do this – are two judgements which Mr Justice Warby delivered, on 27 February and 17 March, which put the cross-examination of Steele by Tomlinson in a wholly new light.
(See https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2020/523.html&query=(Aven) ; https://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/format.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2020/666.html&query=(Aven) .)
They also seem to me crucial to interpreting the newly released transcript of the House Intelligence Committee interview with Michael Sussmann, and also that with the anonymous FBI Special Agent.
(Although I have yet to read this interview, on a casual glance it looks like Michael Gaeta, who is reported to have come to London to meet Steele on 5 July 2016. Correction if this is wrong appreciated.)
The story one gets, if one puts the transcript of the cross-examination in the context of the judgements, is quite remarkable.
It appears that the ineptitude of the lawyers employed by Orbis, who like those representing the Alfa owners, come from a chambers called Matrix, rivals that of Covington & Burling in their defence of Flynn (like the American company, the British has an interesting history and affiliations.)
As Warby explains in his 27 February judgement, on defamation cases a defendant has the option of responding with a ‘non-admission’, or a denial of the case made by the claimant.
The crucial difference is that with the former, the onus to proof the offending statements false shifted to the other side, with the latter, the defence has to set out and defend their own version of events.
What the Matrix lawyers working for Orbis produced, as Warby brings out, was an incoherent mixture of the two.
As a result, the Matrix lawyers working for the Alfa owners called for large parts of Steele’s original witness statement, only provided to them on 17 February, to be struck out.
An objection, quite fairly, was that if Orbis were producing their own version, rather than simply refusing to admit the repudiation of their claims by the Alfa owners, it was preposterous to do so shortly before the scheduled hearing, as these would clearly need adequate time to assemble the further evidence needed to the version that had been provided.
As a result of the utter incompetence of those presenting the Orbis case, the trial would have to be adjourned, if it was to be conducted fairly.
At that point, these lawyers applied for leave to amend the defence. As part of this process, Steele filed a new witness statement, on 9 March, and then, two further ones, on 15 and 16 March – the day the hearing opened.
It appears to have been only after the 9 March statement that he completedly changed his account of the commissioning of the research into the Alfa oligarchs.
Originally, it had been suggested that this happened on 11 September. According to the new version, it was a meeting at Perkins Coie on 29 July that Michael Sussmann informed him of the ‘evidence’ supposed to establish a covert communication channel between the Trump campaign and Alfa. He now says Glenn Simpson commissioned his research soon after.
At the same time, Steele appears now to be saying, on the authority of what is presented as a handwritten note from the time, that at the 5 July 2016 meeting with Gaeta:
'we explained that Glenn Simpson, GPSFusion was our commissioner but the ultimate client were the leadership of the Clinton campaign and that we understood the candidate herself was aware of the reporting at least, if not us ...'
Equally important, the note appears to establish that there were two memoranda in the material he gave to Gaeta, numbered 87 and 88, which were not in the dossier as published. Questioned by Tomlinson, Steele suggests this was because they dealt with matters other than ‘Russiagate.’
I think it is extremely likely that this statement is false, and indeed, I am not even certain that Steele wants us to believe it.
At the moment I am still trying to put different parts of the picture together.
A plausible interpretation, however, is that from early on, key figures in the conspiracy, on both sides of the Atlantic, were well aware that it was fragile.
Accordingly, in addition to the first line of defence – ‘doubling down’, in particular with the framing of Flynn – contingency plans were early one made for a ‘fallback’ strategy, which involved making Steele the ‘patsy.’ And, I think it is possible that he is responding by, in a disguised way, ‘pushing back.’
Of course, I may be wrong. However, it really would seem to me desirable that people tried to get hold, asap, of the contradictory accounts of events given by Steele, and other materials from the cases brought against him in London.
If as I suspect memoranda 87 and 88 were related to ‘Russiagate’, and were deliberately ommitted from the dossier as published, they would be of particular interest.
Posted by: David Habakkuk | 10 May 2020 at 10:10 AM
When will we see Schiff and his cohorts prosecuted for their malfeasance of Congressional office? At the least Schiff needs to be kicked to the curb from the House Intelligence Committee for cause -- operating without a brain one.
Posted by: j | 10 May 2020 at 10:23 AM
David Habakkuk et al
I would ask you all to consider the possibility that the Steele Dossier was not a product of Russian government IO. Rather, that it was ginned up altogether by Steele, a professional meddler and Trump hater. Fusion GPS approached the law firm representing the DNC and the Clinton campaign with an offer to generate OPO research on Trump. The Democrats proceeded to fund that research and Steele who had been a paid informant for the FBI for several years was hired to do the job. Steele had been a significant figure in MI-6 with regard to Russia and it is entirely possible that he contacted some of his old sources, but there is no good reason IMO to think that their rumors were other than inspirational for Steele's literary efforts. To what extent the British government's own IO network played a role in encouraging Steele is not yet known.
Posted by: turcopolier | 10 May 2020 at 11:45 AM
Dare I wonder if there is a certain cunning timing to all these revelations? Having to do with causing damage and embarrassment to the Dems just in time for maximum annihilation in November?
I know it's a long and complicated investigation and Durham had to start cold but I made a small bet with myself 6 months ago that we would start seeing revelations in late spring 2020 building to the big stuff around Aug-Sep.
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | 10 May 2020 at 12:22 PM
I don't understand why Steele wrote fiction that was so over the top (e.g. the peeing prostitutes). Seems unprofessional. Such sensationalism calls the dossier into question. He had to know that there wasn't going be corroboration from any women that Trump was into that kind of weirdness.
Posted by: Eric Newhill | 10 May 2020 at 12:48 PM
Patrick,
I need to think about that.
However, from the British end.
Our current ‘élites’, like those in the United States, are generally rather silly.
The discontents which led to ‘Brexit’ and Trump’s victory were clearly visible, four decades ago, if one cared to look.
The fact that the Russian ‘deplorables’ were coming to feel that their country’s ‘liberals’ had, ‘sold them a pup’, was also clearly visible to people who anyone interested in knowing, by the time of Putin’s - rather fortuitous – accent to power.
However, it was regarded as self-evident by people on both sides of the political ‘fence’ here that it was sensible to take for granted that Hillary Clinton would easily ‘see off’ Trump, and that it was sensible to side with Berezovsky and Khodorkovsky against Putin.
(The embrace of ‘Brexit’ by Boris Johnson was, most probably, in the expectation that ‘Remain’ would win, but he would have ‘positioned’ himself successfully with a constituency he needed to win the leadership of his party.)
What we are seeing in Britain, it seems to me, are people ‘going around in circles’, as they work out how find the ‘least worst’ way out of the dead ends into which their stupid bets have led them.
Obviously, the failure to understand the strength of the forces which led to Trump’s victory is by far the most important element.
How such people can see the utter stupidity of siding with Berezovsky and Khodorkovsky, and also the ‘Banderistas’ in Ukraine, and Ibn al-Khattab and his little friends in Chechnya, remains a moot point.
Posted by: David Habakkuk | 10 May 2020 at 01:20 PM
Patrick,
Timing? You mean like the never ending series of 'crisis' concocted by Democratic operatives in government and media? The only thing not expected was Chinese biological/economic warfare after their conrona virus outbreak. I suspect these releases of declassified information would have hit in February rather than the Fauci fraud show that is destroying the ecomomy of the Republic.
Posted by: Fred | 10 May 2020 at 01:31 PM
David. I think, and am saying so loudly, that the West has lost its competence and that COVID-19 is a very visible demonstration of that (especially coming after that survey that said the USA and UK would be the best-equipped to handle a pandemic. A lot of people painted into a lot of corners and no good idea of how to get out except lay down more paint. Fortunately Russia and China are run by rational actors
Posted by: Patrick Armstrong | 10 May 2020 at 01:36 PM
Eric
There has been some suggestion that there were multiple authors and Steele was the cover for using a verified source.
The titillating nature of the report got it widespread coverage and eyes viewing it.
"Bongino questioned Steele's actual participation with the dossier, arguing his name may have been used because he'd previously provided credible information for the FIFA soccer corruption probe.
"Why was his name slapped on it? The answer is very simple: because Steele had been a credible source for the FBI in the past. ... In other words, in front of a judge, they could present Steele as a legitimate front for false information."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/dan-bongino-newly-released-fbi-documents-on-steele-dossier-fisa-applications-are-devastating
Posted by: Terence Gore | 10 May 2020 at 02:19 PM
Fred, I agree the timing of this denouement was entirely in the hands of the Democrats.
Here is my take: They first needed to create the CYA Mueller Report, riddled with specious "conclusions" in their efforts to sever connections between their own malfeasance during the Obama administration, now percipitated by the totally unexpected Trump election.. Mike Rogers was on to this. Michael Flynn was on to this. So that pushes the timing out a few years.
Next we have Ukraine, then the Pelosi slow walk to impeachment. Bow the deep stater Fauci-Birx corona slow walk. Anything to keep the Horowitz revelations off the front pages too. They knew that was coming. Next challenge, how to bury the Barr-Durham criminal investigation findings. Democrats now really have their back up against the wall.
So I will go so far to claim, yes, the Democrats would even use and/or gin up the "corona crisis" to shut everything down. My background is in health sciences - there was no justification to shut down the world over a "novel" bad flu., unless you are already in control of the media agenda and have a compelling reason to do it.
Democrats and Corona - in pari delitcti (Not to be confused with Pierre Delecto, who also had his own dirty hands in this.)
Democrats, and their front groups like AVAAZ with their 60 million global activist connections, had plenty of reasons to not waste this latest pending "crisis" when they could use it for political gain.
My God, Trump has been resilient. He may stumble and bumble, but he has never blinked.
Posted by: Deap | 10 May 2020 at 02:46 PM
Agree Patrick, clever to for it all come out in the run up to the election, and that was my expectation too.
Posted by: LondonBob | 10 May 2020 at 03:17 PM
David Habakkuk et al
I learn that Steele was already employed by Fusion GPS when they made their pitch to the law firm. He had been working on the previous IO project paid for by the Washington
examiner.
Posted by: turcopolier | 10 May 2020 at 03:21 PM
Well Larry, you might have been right all along saying it was a leak. I myself came to believe it was Russian hacking, but if this true, it's explosive.
https://www.infowars.com/nsa-has-communications-between-seth-rich-and-wikileaks-attorney-claims/
Is this true? Did Seth Rich, the murdered DNC staffer, actually corresponded with Wikileaks? Or this lawyer blowing hot air?
Posted by: NotSure | 10 May 2020 at 03:56 PM
Mr. Habakkuk,
Would you have any updates based on your following the cases related to Seth Rich? It seems that attorney Ty Clevenger has been stymied as he attempts discovery.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/04/newly-released-fisa-documents-deep-state-spying-george-papadopoulos-curiously-seth-richs-name-redacted-transcripts/
Posted by: blue peacock | 10 May 2020 at 04:24 PM
Patrick,
".... the West has lost its competence and that COVID-19 is a very visible demonstration of that.."
That's a sweeping condemnation that does not appear to be supported by the facts, though I would love to see your rationale for concluding that.
"Fortunately Russia and China are run by rational actors"
Fortunate for whom?
Posted by: Fred | 10 May 2020 at 04:33 PM
"....the West has lost its competence and that COVID-19 is a very visible demonstration of that....Fortunately Russia and China are run by rational actors"
Patrick,
One would have to agree with your observation that competence of western governments have long been lost at the altar of politics and internal struggles for power and the short-term financial benefits of the powerful. It would appear that western governments are following the Soviets where their primary focus is PR & propaganda. Pravda on the Potomac and Pravda on the Hudson along with their fellow travelers in both print & television media are well integrated with the media relations efforts of the various government organs.
It seems however contrary to your belief that the CCP is rational they too demonstrated substantial incompetence and followed up their incompetence with a scale of repression that they've tried to obfuscate for years.
The country that showed remarkable competence was the CCPs bête noire, Taiwan. Their intelligence remarkably caught the phenomenon of too many people in Wuhan getting hospitalized with pneumonia. Their distrust of CCP caused them to act quickly and early by scaling back travel from China drastically and monitoring those that had been to China recently. The results are remarkable. Single digit deaths in a country with over a million annual visitors from China.
Posted by: blue peacock | 10 May 2020 at 04:46 PM
I am aware Washington Free Beacon admitted on Oct. 27, 2017, to employing Fusions GPS.
https://freebeacon.com/uncategorized/fusion-gps-washington-free-beacon/
This is what the WFB claimed at the time, according to Matthew Continetti, Editor in Chief & company Chairman Michael Goldfarb
[[[Since its launch in February of 2012, the Washington Free Beacon has retained third party firms to conduct research on many individuals and institutions of interest to us and our readers. In that capacity, during the 2016 election cycle we retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple candidates in the Republican presidential primary, just as we retained other firms to assist in our research into Hillary Clinton. All of the work that Fusion GPS provided to the Free Beacon was based on public sources, and none of the work product that the Free Beacon received appears in the Steele dossier. The Free Beacon had no knowledge of or connection to the Steele dossier, did not pay for the dossier, and never had contact with, knowledge of, or provided payment for any work performed by Christopher Steele. Nor did we have any knowledge of the relationship between Fusion GPS and the Democratic National Committee, Perkins Coie, and the Clinton campaign.]]]
-30-
Posted by: Jim | 10 May 2020 at 05:10 PM
it's good to be able to read the full DOJ motion to dismiss the Flynn case together with its exhibits
https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/6936-michael-flynn-motion-to-dismiss/fa06f5e13a0ec71843b6/optimized/full.pdf
Interestingly, Steele and Ivanka were buds at one time, go figure?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/09/christopher-steele-ivanka-trump-personal-relationship
Posted by: will.271828 | 10 May 2020 at 05:31 PM
Eric,
You write for your audience. Either Steele was so mad, that he believed such things, or he felt that the Clinton Campaign and the DNC would eat it up.
Perhaps his investigation didn’t produce any real information, he wasn’t allowed to clear Trump, that wasn’t an option, and so he came up with the lurid stories to distract his clients. Gray financial dealings would be easier to fact check, and harder to write.
I do think it’s telling that the Democrats, and so much of Washington, thought Moscow had purchased Trump. Because it shows how they operate. They pursue policy because someone is paying.
- Eliot
Posted by: Eliot | 10 May 2020 at 05:53 PM
Colonel, Larry,
I am now very concerned for both Trump and Pence's personal safety. When one takes 10 steps back and looks at the situation, it seems as if there is concerted effort afoot to infect those who have access to both the President and Vice-President, and in turn infect both POTUS and VP. If both Pence and Trump are removed, under our laws then Pelosi becomes the President. And she has made many snide remarks about removing Trump from office. The 'only' time that Pelosi has 'protected speech' is on the floor of the House, the same is for Senators whose only time of protected speech is on the Senate floor. Anyway back to my concerns, the SS contingent protecting POTUS appears to have the virus raging in their ranks. Also POTUS's military contingent personnel. White House personnel there are reports of infections of those close to the President and Vice President.
Again, I am concerned that there appears a concerted effort afoot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/us/politics/coronavirus-white-house-military-aide.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52595700
https://news.yahoo.com/secret-service-coronavirus-cases-white-house-concerns-221444492.html
Posted by: J | 10 May 2020 at 06:02 PM
J,
"If both Pence and Trump are removed" Self quarantine isn't going to remove either one from office; maybe the MSM can have fun with the 25th Amendment arguement- again. On a brighter note I don't think either is going to accept an invitation to dinner at Chappaquiddick. The press want's mask photos to share their "rejoice, we conquer!" glee and generate lots of dopamine hits on social media. That's all any of these stories are.
Posted by: Fred | 10 May 2020 at 09:10 PM
David,
I’m afraid that the “limited hangouts” are always the tool when skeletons find a way out of the closet.
The usual narrative of the institution is fine and upstanding. The hardworking “by the book” rank and file. The stress of the circumstances where everything had to be done to protect the integrity of the heart of democracy, an election. The evil Putin is known to interfere and sabotage. So considering the circumstances we deem it “careless” and not rising to the standard of prosecution. Kinda what Horowitz did? And how the Clinton breach of classified information was handled?
Was the withdrawal of the prosecution of Flynn by Barr designed to obscure even more incriminating documents that Ms. Powell was slowly getting to? Were those handwritten notes released as “red meat”? How about the transcripts of the closed door House intelligence committee hearings?
In most countries especially those where coup attempts are routine, if there was an attempted coup the plotters would be rounded up and dealt with promptly. Erdogan in Turkey is a good example. Of course the coup here was more subtle. However, Trump never used the powers of his office nor was he single minded in getting to the bottom of the coup and eradicating the threat to his presidency. There’s some informational value in that behavior.
Another aspect is that half this country in their hatred for Trump believes it is quite acceptable to attempt such a coup against him. They’re quite happy to go down the slippery slope towards allowing the “state security” apparatus the levers of real power with no accountability. The very antithesis of a constitutional republic and truly dangerous to the liberty of citizens.
Then of course are those with the real power. The political duopoly. The leadership of the governmental apparat. The nexus of financial power and the big corporate establishment. They have no interest in unraveling their opaque power structure. This is what I find baffling - why this attempted takedown of Trump when if one disregards his style, his rhetoric and manner of speech he’s one of them. Most of his policies to date have largely benefited the establishment. The current funneling of largesse to Wall St is epic. Something doesn’t smell right to me.
Is this the “red meat” you’re contemplating?
https://twitter.com/drmartyfox/status/1259564414191222785?s=21
Posted by: Jack | 10 May 2020 at 09:24 PM
J. why would only elderly Pelosi be immune from the "novel" virus in your succession scenario? Or perhaps we might learn leaking botox deactivates the virus.
Posted by: Deap | 10 May 2020 at 09:35 PM
Eric: "I don't understand why Steele wrote fiction that was so over the top (e.g. the peeing prostitutes)."
Dare I suggest it might be because ol' Sergei Skripal loved a spin tall tales, especially after a few beers with his drinking buddy Pablo Miller.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | 10 May 2020 at 09:46 PM
Jack, Trump's 150 plus federal judiciary appointments, including more strict constructionists on the US Supreme Court, will be his most lasting and most beneficial legacy for all of us. That alone earns him four more years.
Trump brought candor and grit to tjis task, which has shaken up the establishment. Perhaps we differ when we define the establishment. Do you t overlook the very entrenched deep state public sector employees and their unions? They in fact are the "establishment".
These unelected fourth branch of government employees, who see themselves as powers only unto themselves, were never contemplated by our nation's Founders. Hence their powers exists outside of our formal checks and balances.
These current deep state entrenched obstructionists remain Barry's most dangerous legacy. To say Trump was initially ill-prepared to meet their force and fury is an understatement. To Trump's lasting credit, he continues to prevail against them.
Give this new kid some credit; and most of all give him four more years. Trump is emerging as a seasoned warrior. While Biden is battle-scarred and fading, Trump is only now getting his second wind.
Posted by: Deap | 11 May 2020 at 12:30 AM