Yes, of course. We all know that the MSM operates hand in glove with the Dem party for shared goals. It’s not news reporting, it’s information shaping. However, today John Durham pulled the curtain back to show the process at work, and we have the names and emails of reporters colluding with Hillary’s oppo research shop—Fusion GPS. Deliciously, the way this happened was that Team Hillary was trying to assert attorney/client privilege in the Sussmann case, claiming that Fusion GPS’s work was “legal” work. This was patent nonsense:
In other words, only seven days passed from 1) the day when Steele published Report #97 and 2) the day when GPS informed The Wall Street Journal about that report.
====
According to the Horowitz report, the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigative team did not receive Dossier report #94 until September 19, 2016.
There I point out that it was no later than April 2016 that the CIA began to suspect that Kremlin money was passing through Alfa Bank to Donald Trump's election-campaign staff.
For comparison, Christopher Steele did not deliver his first Dossier reports to his FBI case officer Michael Gaeta until July 2016.
Fascinating revelations! I think Sussman lying to Baker ( no client!) and then dutifully filling in his timesheet, just confirms the utter moral decrepitude and weasely cunning of this merry band - but as some have mentioned, they may have gone too far with their recent attorney/client moans and groans! Walked into a trap, instead of cooperating with the wily Durham…I think Sussman’s goose is cooked.
Durham's recent document, Page 11, includes the following passage:
[quote]
“Fusion’s in-house cyber ninja, [name of the Government’s expected Fusion GPS trial witness], was asked to analyze the DC Leaks site. Her assessment came back quickly. ‘The poor English and amateurish site architecture — no SSL encryption, open downloads folder — screams ‘Russian hackers’ to me,’ she said.”
[end quote]
Notice the expression: "the Government's expected Fusion GPS trial".
Notice also that some woman employee of Fusion GPS apparently has agreed to be a witness for Durham in that trial.
Now I am reading Durham's recent document, filed on April 25 and titled "Government's Reply to the Defendant's and Non-Party Intervenors' Filings Concerning the Government's Filings Concerning the Government's Motion to Compel the Production of Purported Privileged Communications for In-Camera Inspection".
In regard to Fusion GPS, I understand that Fusion GPS indeed argues that it is providing legal advice in a peculiar sense. In my own words, Fusion GPS argues that it provides facts that would contradict potential accusations of defamation and libel.
For example, if Hillary Clinton were to accuse Donald Trump of colluding with Russian Intelligence and if Trump subsequently would sue Clinton for defamation or libel, then the information provided by Fusion GPS would contradict Trump's lawsuit. According to such reasoning, Fusion GPS was providing "legal advice" to Clinton's campaign organization.
This reasoning is rather diffuse in Durham's document, so I cannot point out a short passage that states the reasoning concisely.
However, I now perceive that Fusion GPS itself has made this argument to avoid showing some of its own documents and correspondence to Durham.
SOL question for federal civil lawsuits. A number of these emails establish that a number of corporate press outlets that published articles corroborating the Steele Dossier—Hamburger of the WSJ in particular—had Moscow sources telling them the Carter Page meeting with Sechin story was “bullshit… never happened.”
Which means that Page, and others named in the Steele Dossier, such as Millian, can arguably now meet the actual malice standard of Sullivan v. NYT for public figures. But it’s also been 6 years. Is it too late for them to sue?
MW: please take a look at the Brennan referral memo to Comey/Strzok 07 Sept 2016 in which he reveals CIA has seen intel indicating Russian Intel is aware of Hillary "green-lighting: a plan to smear trump with Collusion with Russia claims.
FWIW, this is the first I've heard that Guccifer 2.0 was involved in the "exchange" (email or text message, or private messaging?) from which CIA supposedly gleaned Russian intel knowledge of Hillary's smear campaign on Trump, which was the basis of the referral.
It all seems too cute by half. "Topicality is always suspect," as Smiley says.
My sense is G2.0 is someone playing for Team Hillary, if not one of the main co-conspirators.
Is Fusion GPS saying that it was giving legal advice?
Perhaps only Perkins Coie is saying that Perkins Coie was giving legal advice -- but that that legal activity included obtaining information from Fusion GPS.
I have not read the legal documents that were released recently. Therefore, I might be mistakenly attributing to Fusion GPS a legal argument that Fusion GPS itself has not made.
The argument that Fusion GPS essentially was providing legal advice is preposterous.
The sensible legal strategy would be cooperate generally with Durham's requests for information. I assume that, in this history, Fusion GPS acted legally. Fusion GPS sold opposition research to Hillary Clinton's campaign organization. Furthermore, I suppose that Fusion GPS thought that the sold information was generally true.
Of course, Fusion GPS does not want to reveal its "sources and methods" to the public, but such revelations could be minimized, with Durham's cooperation.
So, why is Fusion GPS making this preposterous argument about providing legal advice?
I wonder if Fusion GPS is being represented by some law firm that is representing also another party in this legal dispute. Durham has been warning the judge about conflict-of-interest problems involving law firms in this situation.
It is beginning to look like Durham used Sussman as bait; and the bigger fish couldn't resist biting. But the real lunkers are still swimming around the deep state pond. And those 'reporters' are starting to look like chum.
On July 26, 2016, Peter Fritsch of Fusion GPS sent an e-mail to reporter Jay Solomon of The Wall Street Journal.
https://sleuthscorner.docdroid.com/GYBo5Xm/2022-04-25-durham-huge-reporter-email-list-pdf#page=7
In that e-mail, Fritsch summarized key details that Christopher Steele had written in his Dossier Report #94, which was dated July 19, 2016.
https://themoscowproject.org/dossier/index.html
In other words, only seven days passed from 1) the day when Steele published Report #97 and 2) the day when GPS informed The Wall Street Journal about that report.
====
According to the Horowitz report, the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigative team did not receive Dossier report #94 until September 19, 2016.
My new blog article:
"The Tape-Recorded Conversation in April 2016"
https://people-who-did-not-see.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-tape-recorded-conversation-in-april.html
There I point out that it was no later than April 2016 that the CIA began to suspect that Kremlin money was passing through Alfa Bank to Donald Trump's election-campaign staff.
For comparison, Christopher Steele did not deliver his first Dossier reports to his FBI case officer Michael Gaeta until July 2016.
Fascinating revelations! I think Sussman lying to Baker ( no client!) and then dutifully filling in his timesheet, just confirms the utter moral decrepitude and weasely cunning of this merry band - but as some have mentioned, they may have gone too far with their recent attorney/client moans and groans! Walked into a trap, instead of cooperating with the wily Durham…I think Sussman’s goose is cooked.
Durham's recent document, Page 11, includes the following passage:
[quote]
“Fusion’s in-house cyber ninja, [name of the Government’s expected Fusion GPS trial witness], was asked to analyze the DC Leaks site. Her assessment came back quickly. ‘The poor English and amateurish site architecture — no SSL encryption, open downloads folder — screams ‘Russian hackers’ to me,’ she said.”
[end quote]
Notice the expression: "the Government's expected Fusion GPS trial".
Notice also that some woman employee of Fusion GPS apparently has agreed to be a witness for Durham in that trial.
Now I am reading Durham's recent document, filed on April 25 and titled "Government's Reply to the Defendant's and Non-Party Intervenors' Filings Concerning the Government's Filings Concerning the Government's Motion to Compel the Production of Purported Privileged Communications for In-Camera Inspection".
https://www.scribd.com/document/571632094/97-Gov-Resp-to-AC-Priv-Motions
In regard to Fusion GPS, I understand that Fusion GPS indeed argues that it is providing legal advice in a peculiar sense. In my own words, Fusion GPS argues that it provides facts that would contradict potential accusations of defamation and libel.
For example, if Hillary Clinton were to accuse Donald Trump of colluding with Russian Intelligence and if Trump subsequently would sue Clinton for defamation or libel, then the information provided by Fusion GPS would contradict Trump's lawsuit. According to such reasoning, Fusion GPS was providing "legal advice" to Clinton's campaign organization.
This reasoning is rather diffuse in Durham's document, so I cannot point out a short passage that states the reasoning concisely.
However, I now perceive that Fusion GPS itself has made this argument to avoid showing some of its own documents and correspondence to Durham.
SOL question for federal civil lawsuits. A number of these emails establish that a number of corporate press outlets that published articles corroborating the Steele Dossier—Hamburger of the WSJ in particular—had Moscow sources telling them the Carter Page meeting with Sechin story was “bullshit… never happened.”
Which means that Page, and others named in the Steele Dossier, such as Millian, can arguably now meet the actual malice standard of Sullivan v. NYT for public figures. But it’s also been 6 years. Is it too late for them to sue?
MW: please take a look at the Brennan referral memo to Comey/Strzok 07 Sept 2016 in which he reveals CIA has seen intel indicating Russian Intel is aware of Hillary "green-lighting: a plan to smear trump with Collusion with Russia claims.
See especially paragraph 3a:
>> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRR-F-RX0AA0ydO?format=jpg&name=large <<
Anything jump out at you?
FWIW, this is the first I've heard that Guccifer 2.0 was involved in the "exchange" (email or text message, or private messaging?) from which CIA supposedly gleaned Russian intel knowledge of Hillary's smear campaign on Trump, which was the basis of the referral.
It all seems too cute by half. "Topicality is always suspect," as Smiley says.
My sense is G2.0 is someone playing for Team Hillary, if not one of the main co-conspirators.
Is Fusion GPS saying that it was giving legal advice?
Perhaps only Perkins Coie is saying that Perkins Coie was giving legal advice -- but that that legal activity included obtaining information from Fusion GPS.
I have not read the legal documents that were released recently. Therefore, I might be mistakenly attributing to Fusion GPS a legal argument that Fusion GPS itself has not made.
Andrew McCarthy published a superb article today:
"Durham Would Use a Big Scheme to Prove a Modest Crime"
https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/04/durham-would-use-a-big-scheme-to-prove-a-modest-crime/
The argument that Fusion GPS essentially was providing legal advice is preposterous.
The sensible legal strategy would be cooperate generally with Durham's requests for information. I assume that, in this history, Fusion GPS acted legally. Fusion GPS sold opposition research to Hillary Clinton's campaign organization. Furthermore, I suppose that Fusion GPS thought that the sold information was generally true.
Of course, Fusion GPS does not want to reveal its "sources and methods" to the public, but such revelations could be minimized, with Durham's cooperation.
So, why is Fusion GPS making this preposterous argument about providing legal advice?
I wonder if Fusion GPS is being represented by some law firm that is representing also another party in this legal dispute. Durham has been warning the judge about conflict-of-interest problems involving law firms in this situation.
CTH: Durham Staffer Accidentally Makes Private Emails Public, Fusion GPS Coordination Discussions with Media, and Much More
It is beginning to look like Durham used Sussman as bait; and the bigger fish couldn't resist biting. But the real lunkers are still swimming around the deep state pond. And those 'reporters' are starting to look like chum.