Russia Collusion Scandal (aka A Leftist fantasy)

[Hawk]

Meanwhile, DJIA is down 500 points.

[Julio3000]

With what information? Isn't that what's in debate right now?

It potentially underscores weaknesses in the FISA process, yes. But it also diffuses the coherence of the argument a tad, since there were more sets of eyes on the info. But, yes...with what information? I think we're due a fuller answer on that score.

[Hawk]

[Julio3000]

Meanwhile, DJIA is down 500 points.

Thanks, Obama.

[goldfly]

A few days ago there was a reported second dossier that Steele said he couldnt confirm because it was someone else but the second dossier independent of Steele's said the pee tape event happened.

#releasethepeetape

[bravesnumberone]

Kyle Cheney
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Verified account

@kyledcheney
13m13 minutes ago
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MEMO UPDATE: SCHIFF tells reporters that only portions of the Steele Dossier -- the ones about Page -- were presented to the FISA Court.

"Some of those things were already subject to corroboration."

—

This may get outlined more if Republicans see fit to release the Democratic memo. Given the other falsehoods and distortions in this memo as well as the virtual admission that the "dossier was the root of the entire investigation" line was bull****, I lend far more credibility to the Democrats here.

Guess we can never know "for sure" without seeing the full application.

[bravesnumberone]

Thanks, Obama.

It'll be plus-500 when Rosenstein gets canned later today or early next week.

[CK86]

I'll wait on those apologies calling me crazy for saying how important the dossier was to this whole equation.

Carter Page was named to Trump's inner circle. The FBI had been watching him since 2013.

[Hawk]

Carter Page was named to Trump's inner circle. The FBI had been watching him since 2013.

Inner circle? Lol. You're killing me smalls.

[goldfly]

I'll wait on those apologies calling me crazy for saying how important the dossier was to this whole equation.

[CK86]

No...it has been that the FISA warrant was obtained with source material from Russian agents. And now we know that it's true.

You are misinformed. Carter Page was under investigation since 2013 for his dealings with the Russians. How are you so willfully stupid?

[CK86]

Inner circle? Lol. You're killing me smalls.

He was one of the 5 guys named to his foreign policy team. Are you forgetting that?

[bravesnumberone]

John Dickerson
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@jdickerson
19m19 minutes ago
More John Dickerson Retweeted Fox News Politics
If the FBI wanted to take down candidate Trump why would it have fired Steele for successfully leaking information that was harmful to Trump? (Successful because Steele was not detected at the time)

[CK86]

https://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-...cy-team-221049

Fantasy land where we forget Carter Page was one of the first people named to Trump's group of advisors.

[bravesnumberone]

At least this guy seems to get it.

https://www.redstate.com/patterico/2...lity-question/

[Hawk]

I don't disagree with your larger point. It's well-stated and I agree. But I think the Page/Papadopoulos question is backwards.

I don't think we're talking about information from the Page scrutiny underpinning the Papadopoulos case, but the other way around. Information from the Papadopoulos case would have underpinned the case for scrutiny of Page.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but if we're looking at an investigatory timeline Page's FISA surveillance would've commenced before the FBI questioned Papadopoulos. Are you saying that you believe 'the information' about Papadopoulos (which didn't provide any "evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy" -- per the memo) helped substantiate the request, or are you referring to something else?

[Julio3000]

Inner circle? Lol. You're killing me smalls.

Inner circle is a stretch, but it was a very small, very flat group by every account. Page and Papadopoulos were never more than a degree or so removed from the top of the campaign. I grant that they weren't central cogs, but radically downplaying their access is a non-starter at this point, IMO.

[Hawk]

He was one of the 5 guys named to his foreign policy team. Are you forgetting that?

So now Trump's campaign foreign policy team (inclusive of the likes of Walid Phares and Joe Schmitz - [no clue who the **** they are]) is in the inner circle?

Your reach is mighty, bro.

[bravesnumberone]

Seth Abramson
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Verified account

@SethAbramson
6m6 minutes ago
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42/ We now know—via Glenn Simpson's testimony—that Steele went to the media in September 2016 because the FBI had taken no action on his whistleblower information since June. He then went back to the media in October, when the FBI told the NYT there was no evidence against Trump.

43/ In other words, Steele—per Simpson—began to suspect a coverup at the FBI to protect *Trump*, much like we have evidence (audio, video, emails, tweets) that there was a coverup at the New York field office to protect Trump and harm Clinton over the "new" emails on Weiner's PC.

44/ So the Republicans can whinge about Steele going to the media as much as they like—it only hurts *Trump*, as it re-opens media consideration of the pro-Trump conspiracy at the FBI that Chris Steele (as we now know, *justly*) was concerned about during the latter half of 2016.

45/ The memo claims Steele lied to the FBI about his media contacts—which makes no sense, as his two contacts with the FBI pre-election *both* came before he'd briefed the media about his research. So the question to ask here is, *when* is the memo saying Steele lied to the FBI?

46/ This matters, as Trump allies in Congress have made a criminal referral on Steele *because* of this (timeline-nonsensical) claim that Steele lied to the FBI about his media contacts *prior* to the election—and was "suspended" (whatever that could mean) by the FBI as a result.

47/ But wait—it gets better. The allegation that Steele was "suspended and then terminated" by the FBI—which again, makes no basic sense because he *wasn't working for or paid a salary by them*—must also be false, because he was still having FBI contacts in December 2016. So...?

[Hawk]

Inner circle is a stretch, but it was a very small, very flat group by every account. Page and Papadopoulos were never more than a degree or so removed from the top of the campaign. I grant that they weren't central cogs, but radically downplaying their access is a non-starter at this point, IMO.

Access to who? The real inner circle?