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Spy Memo and Political Double Talk [Update]

by Oui Thu Feb 1st, 2018 at 10:06:37 AM EST

[Update-1] GOP Memo has just been declassified by president Trump

Will follow-up soon - see also comments below ...

An explosive event, not just the contents of the secret GOP memo ...

FBI slams secret Nunes memo alleging Feds spied on Team Trump for political reasons | The Register |

The FBI has slammed a still-secret memo that claims the bureau was politically motivated when it requested a wiretap on a key advisor of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.

In a statement released Wednesday, the law enforcement agency said it was "provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it" - referring to a decision by the House Intelligence Committee to release the four-page memo to congressfolk last week.

The FBI statement , emailed to journalists, continued: "As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy."

More below the fold ...

...
Although access to the memo remains limited to members of Congress, its contents are now widely known thanks to leaks. At the heart of it is a wiretap of former Trump advisor Carter Page, approved through the secretive US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The memo attempts to paint a decision by the FBI and the Department of Justice to seek a warrant against Page, and a subsequent decision to extend that warrant, as a sign that both organizations were actively trying to undermine the Trump campaign, ie: that their investigations were politically motivated.  

Attempts to distract ...

○ Spy talk from former MI-6 agent in Yeltsin's Moscow years
○ Louise Mensch, a "journalist" from Australian Rupert Murdoch
○ Another British Spook Stands Up to Vent His Opinions
○ Bar talk from London caught by Australian ambassador to UK

All this goofiness never made an impression on me, and part of an anti-Russia movement that started during the Bush years 2001-2008. Living in fear, hysteria, paranoia ...

○ GCHQ and EU Intelligence Eavesdropped on Trump Tower Communication
○ Dutch Hackers Infiltrated Kremlin's Cozy Bear in 2014

Display:
Spy Memo and Political Double Talk [Update] | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Accusation Nunes Altered Secret GOP Memo (none / 0)
Dem. Adam Schiff accuses Devin Nunes of altering a controversial GOP memo after Republicans voted to release it

 

Plenty more to add later ...

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 1st, 2018 at 10:07:46 AM EST
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk (none / 0)
In other news, a group of pro-Trump agents at the FBI New York field office conspired to help Trump win by forcing the FBI to re-open the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
by Gag Halfrunt on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 12:23:16 PM EST
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk (4.00 / 2)
Whenever the radical right accuse someone else of doing something it can be taken as proof that they've done it themselves.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 12:25:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk (none / 0)
I love Seth Abramson .... NOT!

○ A Friend Called Seth Abramson

Just like a broken watch, every 12 hours it has the correct time!  ;-)

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 01:01:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The New Yorker twitter (none / 0)


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 12:55:19 PM EST
Re: The New Yorker twitter (none / 1)
Can you read the classified parts, as with other US documents?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 02:38:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
FBI Comey twitter on Joe McCarthy (none / 0)


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 12:56:34 PM EST
Re: FBI Comey twitter on Joe McCarthy (4.00 / 3)
Goggle Maps lists 2 streets called Joe McCarthy. That's two more than Hugh Thompson....
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 02:35:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
GOP Case: FBI Probe Based On Tainted Dossier (none / 0)
GOP case: FBI probe based on tainted evidence linked to Clinton | The Hill - Feb. 1, 2018 |

Congressional Republicans are seeking to make the case that the FBI's investigation into President Trump's campaign and possible collusion with Russia was based on flawed or politically tainted evidence connected to partisans loyal to Hillary Clinton.

...
While the FBI has been protesting the release of the Nunes memo, it has been working behind the scenes to vet a version of the Grassley-Graham memo, which is expected to be released in redacted form soon. The FBI is also seeking redactions to the Nunes memo, though it is not clear the White House or congressional Republicans will agree to them.

Republicans believe both documents will back up arguments that evidence used to justify the FBI's probe came from partisans loyal to Clinton, sources said. They are also expected to play into arguments from some Republicans that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia is based on false information.

...
They will argue the FBI failed to critically assess the political motives and credibility of Steele and did not fully disclose that evidence came from Clinton supporters as it sought to get permission from courts for surveillance warrants.

"The fact that half to three-quarters of the evidence the FBI used to unleash the most awesome of surveillance powers upon Donald Trump's inner circle came from sources tied directly to his Democratic opponent should worry us all, especially when that happened during an election," said one senior Republican directly familiar with the evidence, describing the party's core concerns.

"The FBI allowed itself to be used by Clinton partisans to parlay single-sourced, mostly unverified evidence into a counterintelligence probe with clear weaknesses that weren't disclosed," the source added.

[Read on ...]

○ Former Trump campaign aide [Rick Gates] hires lawyer known for navigating high-profile scandals | ABC News |
○ Trump Campaign Aide Carter Page May Have Been Russian Agent, Justice Department Believed, According to Nunes Memo | Newsweek |

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 02:48:58 PM EST
Twitter FBI Agents Assoc (none / 0)

Shameful how both parties have politicized the FBI appointments as well as the IC - see under the George Bush years and the intelligence to go to war in Iraq. STOP THE LIES AND WAR PROPAGANDA!! STOP THE INVASION OF US CITIZEN'S PRIVACY.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 06:12:07 PM EST
Carter Page Surfs the Wave of GOP Memo (none / 0)
Carter Page Seizes On `Brave And Assiduous' Nunes Memo | TPM |

Former Trump campaign staffer Carter Page emailed TPM his statement on the disputed Nunes memo, released on Friday:

       "The brave and assiduous oversight by Congressional leaders in discovering this unprecedented abuse of process represents a giant, historic leap in the repair of America's democracy. Now that a few of the misdeeds against the Trump Movement have been partially revealed, I look forward to updating my pending legal action in opposition to DOJ this weekend in preparation for Monday's next small step on the long, potholed road toward helping to restore law and order in our great country."

The memo is centered around what it claims were improper actions by the FBI in its efforts to get a warrant to surveil Page, who had numerous contacts with people linked the Russian government.


○ The sketchy past of the man at the center of the Republicans' memo obsession

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 06:44:45 PM EST
The Memo (none / 1)
full text
so they say

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 07:17:40 PM EST
Re: The Memo (none / 1)
I've found no information in this text that is not already in the public domain, having been published by press reporters over the prior 12 months. The memo does helpfully summarize FBI personnel who assembled FISA warrant applications and whose names may have been masked or omitted by reporters. To the extent that list and personnel assigned custody of material evidence may be incomplete I otherwise am unpersuaded by claims by the opposition party that memo is "misleading."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Feb 2nd, 2018 at 07:52:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Will Russian Babies Trip-up Trump + Jr. (none / 0)
It's not the meeting by itself, but the misinformation, lies and attempt to cover-up the intention of the discussion they stands out as a sore finger. Is Mueller on the prowl?

The Gang That Couldn't Lie Straight

The Trump team's deception of media regarding the Trump Tower meeting piques Mueller's interest.

The New York Times led with a lengthy report on the Mueller investigation's curiosity about a statement crafted under the president's direction last July. It concerned the now infamous Trump Tower meeting a year earlier -- i.e., on June 9, 2016 -- between top Trump-campaign officials Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort and a Russian contingent led by the Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

To cut to the chase, Mueller appears to be homing in on the question of whether there was a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

 « click for more info »
Billionaire Paul Singer funded Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson - linked to Russian lawyer Veselnitskaya in Magnitsky case

While President Trump was deeply involved in the drafting of the statement, it was ultimately issued by a lawyer in the name of Don Jr., to whom the Times had directed its questions about the Trump Tower meeting. The statement was untrue and ill-considered. Worse, it conflicted with another misleading version of the Trump Tower meeting that the president's legal team simultaneously provided to a different media outlet, Circa. As the Times report correctly asserts, both versions sought to conceal the true purpose of the Trump Tower meeting, namely: to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton from Russian-government sources.

It is not a crime to lie to journalists. From this premise, some Trump-friendly commentators have reasoned that the false statements about the meeting given by Trump subordinates to the Times and Circa have no relevance to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry. This is wrong.

Altough a conservative news outlet, I will judge this on the merits of writing, the content. Interesting coverage by same columnist last December ... the Nunes Secret GOP Memo provides nothing that hasn't already been in public discourse. Why were FBI, DOJ and top Democrats so opposed for its release and exposure of intelligence sources?

○ Was the Steele Dossier the FBI's `Insurance Policy'?

A concise analysis of the Nunes Memo from BBC News ...

○ Key parts of US Memo and what it means

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 at 09:36:39 AM EST
DICTION CORNER (none / 1)
conclusory, adj.
typically modifies a statement, or asserted fact

usages

  1. The comment above collects conclusory statements.
  2. Annotations to The Memo offered by BBC employees are conclusory statements.
  3. The Memo states the committee's conclusion of its own investigation of US gov agents' procedure(s) in accord with US laws to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance of one individual, Carter Page, a US citizen. The findings of the investigation list procedural error in fact in the  submission of any evidence indicating "probable cause" of crime in progress required for surveillance and subsequent renewals of any warrant obtained. That conclusion is, "material and relevant information were omitted" from submissions for a warrant to conduct surveillance of Mr Page. That fact is undisputed even by the committee's opponents who (i) admit "underlying" facts of criminal conduct have been withheld by unnamed persons from the committee's investigation and (ii) these facts not in evidence exculpate conclusory statements submitted for the warrant.

An aphorism attains practicable advice for expert and amateur detectives seeking truth in such matters: Liars cannot keep track of their lies.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 at 08:34:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: DICTION CORNER (none / 1)
I read that of a total of 20k requests sinds the existence of the FISA court, 12 have been rejected. Quite a feat ... either excellent performance, or a rubber stamp court?

'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 at 10:04:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: DICTION CORNER (none / 1)
Rubber stamp point taken
to emphasize the exception to the rule posed by the committee's "meddling and interference" with the travesty of justice, US Dept of.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 at 10:57:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: DICTION CORNER (none / 1)
I offer that opinion having reviewed well-documented performance of US Merit Board adjudication of US gov employee civil suits up to 2012, when historical docket was first opened to public scrutiny: 1% of plaintiffs prevail.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Feb 3rd, 2018 at 11:01:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Will Russian Babies Trip-up Trump + Jr. (none / 1)
Another month, another quota!
You may be interested to read front-page headlines at The Nation. "Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes Are Betraying the Constitution in the Service of Donald Trump" caught my attention. What genius the author may have hope to impress upon his readers with a disorderly defense of "separation of powers" was lost here.
For the system of checks and balances to function, the leaders charged with responsibility for the various branches of government must zealously defend the authority of the branches they lead.

This is the basic duty that House Speaker Paul Ryan rejected when he chose to make the legislative chamber subservient to President Trump's lawless executive branch.


For want of citation to Marbury v. Madison, which settled the question in which branch authority to interpret all laws, rules and regulations derived thereof, resides.

Also and inexplicably the author appears to be arguing that representatives interfere in the chief executive's "lawless" administration of executive officers, rather than, say, judicial officers. huh.

I think, neither journal, Nation and Review, is equipped with informed editorial "authority".

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 03:07:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
reference (none / 1)
CNN (and consolidated cases) v. FBI
Comey Memos to Remain Secret, Judge Orders 2 Feb 2918
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in a 25-page ruling that he agreed with the government that disclosing them would harm Special Counsel Robert's Mueller's ongoing investigation of links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Star chamber preceded by a search of indefinite length for "links" to criminal conduct. Which political party will accept responsibility for defending this institution of justice?

stare decisis ("common law")
John Doe Agcy. v. John Doe Corp., 493 U.S. 146 (1989)
Read FOIA exemptions, 7(a-f), conflict of laws, as also pertains to probable cause and cause of action in PAGE.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 04:19:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: reference (none / 1)
CNN v. FBI, opinion
DOJ's public briefing (however vague) suggests that the Comey Memos "have been compiled into[] the ongoing investigation by the Special Counsel into Russian interference in the 2016 election." Id. at 2. By way of background, Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert S. Mueller as Special Counsel on May 17, 2017. The Office of Special Counsel has revealed little about the scope of its investigation, but Rosenstein's initial order authorized Mueller to investigate "(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and (ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and (iii) any other matters with the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a)." DOJ Order No. 3915-2017 (May 17, 2017). Under that section, the Special Counsel's jurisdiction includes "the authority to investigate and prosecute federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, the Special Counsel's investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses."

That last 'graph is begging Mueller [!] to indict individual FBI agents named in The Memo. Not likely to happen tho' in spite of early demand(s) for Sessions [!] to charge individual FBI agents named in The Memo. Neither  man can withstand allegations of "political" motive (protect or persecute Teh Smirking Donald) under color of law. Cause of action to challenge FISA "abuse" is in Page's hand.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 05:11:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: reference (none / 1)
"As it prevails here, the Comey Memos, at least for now, will remain in the hands of the Special Counsel and not the public.

... On June 8, Comey testified publicly that while still in office, he had created several contemporaneous memoranda documenting up to nine conversations with the President.  The content of those memos has since been the subject of intense public speculation ... "    

Mueller is protecting evidence needed for his case the President's intend to obstruct justice. The Nunes secret memo is a failed attempt to get the President off the hook. The Republican Congress will fail to taint the Mueller investigation, too much wit and power in prosecution.

○ The James Comey memo is an existential threat to Donald Trump's presidency | CNN - May 17, 2017 |
○ Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation | NY Times - May 16, 2017 |

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 06:36:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"in the hands" (none / 1)
is an unfortunate choice of phrase, on my part. My meaning is: Based on findings of the committee's investigation, Carter Page is able, if not willing, to attain standing to sue FBI officers for violating his civil rights (4th, 5th, 14th). Findings of fact by the committee's investigation are in his hands. He--not Trump--is the party injured by improper application for and execution of the FISA warrant obtained by FBI agents, not Mueller.

The FBI is unwilling or unable to produce relevant evidence of crime in progress to warrant Page's surveillance under FISA.

As far as I'm concerned, FISA warrant authority executed in the USA can go to hell. On Carter Page's back if he can get to SCOTUS. And every other bullshit artist's ranting about fascist Trump.

Parallel investigations

The courts' orders (CNN and Joe Doe) address "procedural history" of the FBI's investigation contained in FBI "records" (e.g. Comey's memos). The FBI will not disclose this info to the public and has no legal obligation to do so while its investigation continues, whether or not the FBI disclosed those records to Mueller, Mueller wants to disclose FBI records to the public, or Mueller's investigation of "links" continues or ends (although the court suggests CNN can try FOIA again at that time). Those ex parte conditions of FBI records' disclosures to the public are "in the hands of the Special Counsel."

After reviewing the Memos in camera, as well as receiving 2 a sealed ex parte proffer from the Special Counsel's Office, the Court agrees with the Government's assessment. As it prevails here, the Comey Memos, at least for now, will remain in the hands of the Special Counsel and not the public.

Ostensibly, Mueller has zero interest in "protecting" evidence --whatever its provenance-- that incriminates "links" between Trump or Trump associates and Russia gov employees, hustlers, and citizens "meddling" with US democracy. If he had it, if the FBI had it, if the CIA and NSA had it, if the IRfuckingS had it --to give without blowing their illegal domestic espionage-- the press would NOT be speculating and Mueller would not be fishing for state witnesses to corroborate a conspiracy to commit WHAT CRIME?

Parallel Special Counsels
Sessions considering second special counsel to investigate Republican concerns, letter shows
That's how stupid US gov is. Give it 18 more months for Mueller to assemble a "probable" RICO indictment.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 08:35:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by the way, (none / 0)
How'd Mueller's "interview" of Jeff Sessions go?
Who
cares.
And when is Mueller's "interview" with Trump?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 08:49:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Eric S. Schmidt (none / 0)
could pay a couple college tuitions from royalties received from syndication of his investigations.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Feb 4th, 2018 at 08:54:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"credibility" raised from the dead (none / 1)
`This is Nuts': Liberals Launch `Largest Mobilization in History' in Defense of Russiagate Probe
Setting aside for the moment the merits of the Russiagate narrative, who really is this Robert Mueller that amnesiac liberals clamor to hold up as the champion of the people and defender of democracy? Co-author Coleen Rowley, who as an FBI whistleblower exposed numerous internal problems at the FBI in the early 2000s, didn't have to be privy to his inner circle to recall just a few of his actions after 9/11 that so shocked the public conscience as to repeatedly generate moral disapproval even on the part of mainstream media. Rowley was only able to scratch the surface in listing some of the more widely reported wrongdoing that should still shock liberal consciences.

Although Mueller and his "joined at the hip" cohort James Comey are now hailed for their impeccable character by much of Washington, the truth is, as top law enforcement officials of the George W. Bush administration (Mueller as FBI Director and Comey as Deputy Attorney General), both presided over post-9/11 cover-ups and secret abuses of the Constitution, enabled Bush-Cheney fabrications used to launch wrongful wars, and exhibited stunning levels of incompetence.
[...]
Coleen Rowley, a retired FBI special agent and division legal counsel whose May 2002 memo to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller exposed some of the FBI's pre-9/11 failures, was named one of TIME magazine's "Persons of the Year" in 2002.

You may recall Ms Rowley's brief celebrity at DKos.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Feb 11th, 2018 at 09:46:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk [Update] (none / 0)
No surprise in Washington DC's kabuki theatre and the partisan report. This won't stop the Mueller investigation.

The Republicans may have "overlooked" the origin of Fusion GPS and the origin with the Rubio campaign and his big sponsor Paul Singer ... I haven't:

○ Fusion GPS linked to UAE Sheikh and Rubio Donor

One must realize, both Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS are not in the political oppo research, but closely knit to oligarchs, corruption and the well paid lawsuits between these billionaires. The triangle of corruption and wealth being played out in London - New York - Tel Aviv.

The US State Department had placed its trust in both entities for knowledge of and research done on Ukrainian oligarchs, both pro-Western and pro-Russian. That's how Manafort was the first to be an easy target. Once he joined the Trump campaign, all bids were off and the IC pounced on Trump & Co.

The Glenn Simpson hearing totally annihilated William Browder and the linked Magnitsky Act of US Congress.

Quite interesting, Glenn Simpson worked for a Russian oligarch to defeat the Magnitsky Act ...

○ Fusion GPS: Transcript of Testimony Glenn Simpson Released
○ Emptywheel, Simpson Testimony and Sergei Millian

Unintended consequences ...  ;-)

Bipartisanship is seen with donors across the aisle ...

    Mr. Schumer shares donors with many Republican elites. He and George W. Bush, for example, each counted Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and CitiGroup as top funders. Two of the major investment banks that collapsed in 2008 financial crash, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, also showered money on both men. Mitt Romney backers, such as Paul Singer [NYT] and John Paulson, also support Mr. Schumer's campaigns.


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Thu Feb 8th, 2018 at 10:25:59 AM EST
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk (none / 0)
My diary - Is RussiaGate Really IC-Gate - Forbes (July 2017).

    [Hyperlinks added to article are mine - Oui]

Cohen first raised the question of "Intelgate," perhaps coining the word, in the first half of 2017. He returns to it here ...

Russiagate or Intelgate? | The Nation |
By Stephen F. Cohen

The publication of the Republican House Committee memo and reports of other documents increasingly suggest not only a "Russiagate" without Russia but also something darker: The "collusion" may not have been in the White House or the Kremlin.

...
Steele's dossier, which alleged that Trump had been compromised by the Kremlin in various ways for several years even preceding his presidential candidacy, was the foundational document of the Russiagate narrative, at least from the time its installments began to be leaked to the American media in the summer of 2016, to the US "Intelligence Community Assessment" of January 2017 (when BuzzFeed also published the dossier), the same month that FBI Director James Comey "briefed" President-elect Trump on the dossier--apparently in an effort to intimidate him--and on to today's Mueller investigation.

Even though both have been substantially challenged for their lack of verifiable evidence, the dossier and subsequent ICA report remain the underlying sources for proponents of the Russiagate narrative of "Trump-Putin collision." The memo and dossier are now being subjected to close (if partisan) scrutiny, much of it focused on the Clinton campaign's having financed Steele's work through his employer, Fusion GPS. But two crucial and ramifying question are not, Cohen argues, being explored: Exactly when, and by whom, was this Intel operation against Trump started? And exactly where did Steele get the "information" that he was filing in periodic installments and that grew into the dossier?

In order to defend itself against the memo's charge that it used Steele's unverified dossier to open its investigation into Trump's associates, the FBI claims it was prompted instead by a May 2016 report of remarks made earlier by another lowly Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos, to an Australian ambassador in a London bar. Even leaving aside the ludicrous nature of this episode, the public record shows it is not true.

In testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in May 2017, John Brennan, formerly Obama's head of the CIA, strongly suggested that he and his agency were the first, as The Washington Post put it at the time, "in triggering an FBI probe." Certainly both the Post and The New York Times interpreted his remarks in this way. Equally certain, Brennan played a central role in promoting the Russiagate narrative thereafter, briefing members of Congress privately and giving President Obama himself a top-secret envelope in early August 2016 that almost certainly contained Steele's dossier. Early on, Brennan presumably would have shared his "suspicions" and initiatives with James Clapper, director of national intelligence.

○ Did MI6/CIA Collude with Chris Steele to Entrap Trump?

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Mon Feb 12th, 2018 at 08:46:48 PM EST
Re: Spy Memo and Political Double Talk (none / 0)
More ...

FBI Director Comey, distracted by his mangling of the Clinton private-server affair during the presidential campaign, may have joined them actively somewhat later. But when he did so publicly, in his March 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, it was as J. Edgar Hoover reincarnate--as the nation's number-one expert on Russia and its profound threat to America (though, when asked, he said he had never heard of Gazprom, the giant Russian-state energy company often said to be a major pillar of President Putin's power).

    SPEIER: All right, let's move on to someone else in that web. His name is Michael Caputo. He's a PR professional, conservative radio talk show host. In 1994, he moved to Russia and there he was working for the agency for international development. He was fired from that job because he refused to follow a State Department position.

    He then opened a PR firm in Moscow and married a Russian woman. He subsequently divorced her and in 1999 his business failed. Roger Stone, a mentor to him, urged him to move to Florida and open his PR firm in Miami which is exactly what Mr. Caputo did. And then in 2000 he worked with Gazprom-Media to improve Putin's image in the United States.

    Now, do we know who Gazprom-Media is? Do you know anything about Gazprom, Director?

    COMEY: I don't.

    SPEIER: Well, it's a -- it's an oil company. In 2007, he began consulting the Ukrainian parliamentary campaign. There he met his second wife.

    So I guess my question is, what possible reason is there for the Trump campaign to hire Putin's image consultant? Any thoughts on that Director Comey?

    COMEY: No thoughts.

The question therefore becomes: When did Brennan begin his "investigation" of Trump? His House testimony leaves this somewhat unclear, but, according to a subsequent Guardian article, by late 2015 or early 2016 he was receiving, or soliciting, reports from foreign intelligence agencies regarding "suspicious 'interactions' between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents."

In short, if these reports and Brennan's own testimony are to be believed, he, not the FBI, was the instigator and godfather of Russiagate. Certainly, his subsequent frequent and vociferous public retelling of the Russiagate allegations against Trump suggest that he played a (and probably the) instigating role. And, it seems, a role in the Steele dossier as well.

My earlier diaries ...

○ GCHQ and EU Intelligence Eavesdropped on Trump Tower Communication
○ Another British Spook Stands Up to Vent His Opinions
○ Dutch Hackers Infiltrated Kremlin's Cozy Bear in 2014

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Mon Feb 12th, 2018 at 08:48:01 PM EST
Spy Memo and Political Double Talk [Update] | 29 comments (29 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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