My information has been that, while a wealthy Republican first started the research into a Trump/Russia connection, it was dropped prior to the Steele Dossier.
My information also was that Hillary/the DNC funded the Steele Dossier. It would never have come into being if it were not for that funding. Of course, they did not make direct payments to Steele, instead making them through Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS.
How incredibly credible :-)
https://www.snopes.com/?s=hillary+clinton+uranium+mine+
"Hillary/the DNC funded the Steele Dossier." If true, so what ? Was it a crime for Trump's lawyers to do background checks on those accusing him of assault ? If you think something illegal was done with the file later, that had nothing to do with the origination.
Now, what has that to do with Hillary colluding with Russia ?
"Hillary/the DNC funded the Steele Dossier." If true, so what ? Was it a crime for Trump's lawyers to do background checks on those accusing him of assault ? If you think something illegal was done with the file later, that had nothing to do with the origination.
Now, what has that to do with Hillary colluding with Russia ?
I'm confused, Carl. Hillary paid Russians to come up with a dossier in order to be sure she won the election.
What is the Mueller investigation all about??
Actually, I didn't finish that.
Hillary paid Russians to come up with a dossier in order to be sure she won the election.
That dossier was instrumental in getting a FISA warrant to surveil the Trump campaign.
Try to think about that for just a minute. A dossier, paid for by the candidate Trump was running against, was fed to the FBI. They, then, used that (never validated) salacious document to convince a secret court that a "wiretap" was needed on the campaign of Donald Trump. I believe it was renewed four times, signed once by Rod Rosenstein.
A document, never verified, put together by the Russians, and paid for by Hillary Clinton.
What would you call that, Carl?
"Hillary paid Russians to come up with a dossier in order to be sure she won the election."
There are several degrees of separation between Hillary and the Russians. Read Dershowitz's thought on the matter.
If you pay the newspaper boy for his services, and he is then arrested for gambling, are you responsible for
his arrest because you gave him money ? I know, a rediculous analogy, but no worse than your suppositions and opinions.
"That dossier was instrumental in getting a FISA warrant to surveil the Trump campaign."
Debunked, but you won't believe it anyway. Do your own research.
"That dossier was instrumental in getting a FISA warrant to surveil the Trump campaign."
Debunked, but you won't believe it anyway. Do your own research.
Debunked? By whom??
Don't you remember Andrew McCabe's testimony that it was central to the FISA court giving a warrant to surveil the Trump campaign?
Was that Snopes again??
cf, just google "fisa warrant surveillance carter page" and you'll find many debunks. Of course they are mostly MSM and you won't believe them anyway.
I found one that I thought I'd quote:
https://www.justsecurity.org/59837/reports-carter-page-subject-fisa-warrant-2013-2014/
"If the FBI had already convinced a federal court to issue a warrant to surveil Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in 2013 or 2014, it could add an important data point for discussions of the propriety of the FISA surveillance of Page approved in Oct. 2016 and renewed through to mid-2017. Most news stories and commentaries, however, do not even refer to the possible existence of a 2013 or 2014 FISA warrant. What has been overlooked are the reports, especially by CNN and others, that state such a warrant existed.
"Carter Page came to the attention of the FBI long before he joined the Trump campaign, as the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets have reported. In 2013, Russian spies tried to recruit Page as an intelligence source, and Page passed documents to an agent of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service."
cf, just google "fisa warrant surveillance carter page" and you'll find many debunks. Of course they are mostly MSM and you won't believe them anyway.
I would suggest adding "steele dossier" to the end of that search string and doing it again - but, if you don't want a biased search, DO.NOT.USE.GOOGLE.
it is crystal clear that the Steele dossier, an unverified Clinton-campaign product, was the driving force behind the Trump–Russia investigation.
Steele has not been in Russia for about 20 years. In connection with the dossier allegations, he was merely the purveyor of information from the actual sources — unidentified Russians who themselves relied on hearsay information from other sources
In each Carter Page FISA warrant application, the FBI represented that it had “reviewed this verified application for accuracy.” But did the bureau truly ensure that the information had been “thoroughly vetted and confirmed”? Remember, we are talking here about serious, traitorous allegations against an American citizen and, derivatively, an American presidential campaign.
It turns out, however, that the crazies were right and I was wrong. The FBI (and, I’m even more sad to say, my Justice Department) brought the FISA court the Steele-dossier allegations, relying on Steele’s credibility without verifying his information.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But you do say mostly. Not entirely. Therefore was the surveillance justified?
SEN. GRAHAM: No not at all in my view. If the dossier is the reason you issued the warrant, it was a bunch of garbage. The dossier has proven to be a bunch of garbage.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the president is correct?
SEN. GRAHAM: In my view that the warrant, the FISA warrant process needs to be looked at closely about Congress. The main reason they issued the warrant was the dossier prepared by Mr. Steele. They never told the court that he was a paid operative in the Democratic Party. The substance of the dossier to this day is a bunch of garbage.
Politifact ran a story with quotes from CNN
On CNN Jan. 2, Florida International University law professor Elizabeth Foley claimed that the 35-page collection of research memos, which has come to be called the Steele Dossier, started a chain of events that led to the wiretapping of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Here’s what she said, and how CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Jeffrey Toobin reacted.
"On July 7, Carter Page goes to Moscow to give a speech at a University," Foley said. "On July 19, this is 2016, (former British intelligence officer Christopher) Steele submits a salacious dossier to the FBI about some sort of quid pro quo being discussed between Page and Russian oligarchs. He submits that to the FBI on July 19. About a month later we have the FBI going to the foreign intelligence surveillance court to get a wiretap, to get surveillance of Carter Page. And this is all based on a dossier."
"You have no proof of that!" Cooper interrupted.
"You don’t know that!" echoed panelist Jeffrey Toobin.
"That’s what Jim Comey has suggested," Foley said. "That’s what CNN reported in April (2017). And that’s also what the New York Times previously reported in April 2017. So, all of sudden now they are trying to walk back the genesis of this investigation and switch it to (Trump adviser George) Papadopoulos. If they really believe national security was at risk and there was some collusion why would they have waited four months?"
There's lots more.
But, once again, Carl. don't you remember Andrew McCabe's testimony that the Steele Dossier was central to getting a FISA warrant? That testimony, under oath, is the smoking gun.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/02/02/rep_swalwell_nunes_memo_misquotes_mccabes_statement_about_steele_dossierfisa_warrant.html
Rep. Eric Swalwell disputes the characterization made in the Nunes FISA Abuse Memo that deputy FBI director testified to the House Intelligence Committee that the Steele Dossier was the main piece of evidence used to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on a member of the Trump campaign. "He didn't say that," Swalwell said.
Rep. Eric Swalwell disputes the characterization made in the Nunes FISA Abuse Memo that deputy FBI director testified to the House Intelligence Committee that the Steele Dossier was the main piece of evidence used to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on a member of the Trump campaign. "He didn't say that," Swalwell said.
First - if I had to make a list of politicians that have been the most honest I have ever heard speak on TV, and a list of those who were the most smarmy and slippery, Eric Swalwell would be the worst, and the farmer Devon Nunes would be at the top of the list of honest ones. Hands down.
Now, let's use just a bit of common sense - ok?
Swalwell can easily say that with impunity. It could be a simple matter of semantics. Even if not, and the documents are declassified, no one will hold him accountable if he is not telling the truth. Devon Nunes, however, is another story. If what he put down, in writing on a formal document, was not factually correct, there will be no escaping the accountability.
One obvious question here is - why have the DOJ and the FBI been fighting so hard to keep this from being made public?
But, even more obvious, if Devon Nunes had mis-quoted Andrew McCabe in a substantive way, in a formal House document, Andrew McCabe's lawyers, along with lawyers for the DOJ and the FBI, would have been on him and the knives would have been out.
This is, again, just common sense, Carl. I can understand why you are experiencing cognitive dissonance. it has to bother you.
And, it should.
Your sense is only common to those who are blind because they will not see.