Paul Sperry has done a long investigative piece on the Russia Hoax effort to smear Trump by claiming that the hapless Carter Page had connections to Kremlin insiders with access to Vladimir Putin.
So at best, the FBI was tricked by the Clinton Campaign. Which means they're really really stupid. At worse, the FBI did dirty work for the Clinton Campaign which means they're criminal.
Either way they should be shutdown. We really don't need a stupid or corrupt FBI.
The fundamental problem in this history was that the CIA leadership and FBI leadership were far too concerned that Donald Trump might defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
For the sake of argument, let's suppose that the Russian Government indeed did have a lot of files indicating that Hillary Clinton had abused her Secretary of State position to compel foreigners to contribute money to her Clinton Foundation. Let's suppose further that the Russian Government was planning to reveal such information to the US electorate in an October Surprise.
I myself do not think that it was the business of the CIA/FBI to prevent such a revelation.
Furthermore, I think that the CIA/FBI gladly would have allowed the Russian Government to accomplish an analogous October Surprise against Trump.
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Because the CIA/FBI hated Trump so much and feared an October Surprise in his favor so much, the CIA/FBI abandoned its professional objectivity and political neutrality.
For example, the suspicions against Carter Page were ludicrous.
For another example, the suspicions that Trump was communicating secretly with Russian Intelligence through Alfa Bank were ludicrous.
The CIA/FBI leaderships -- and many other entities -- were eager to believe any ludicrous, absurd, nonsensical insinuations against Trump.
For example, there was something suspicious about the fact that Carter Page -- a US businessman for many years in Russia -- was invited to speak at a graduation ceremony at a business college in Russia. That graduation speech in July 2016 was supposed to prove that Page's real reason for visiting Russia at that time was to coordinate with Russian Intelligence to accomplish an October Surprise in the USA's Presidential election.
When such stupid suspicions were discussed within the US Intelligence Community or among US journalists, somebody should have just laughed out loud at the preposterous paranoia, but nobody did so. Everyone in those circles was panicked that Trump might defeat Clinton in the election.
The FBI leadership and CIA leadership feared that Russian Intelligence had hacked a lot of computer files that would show that Hillary Clinton had abused her Secretary of State position to compel foreigners to donate money to her Clinton Foundation. Russian Intelligence might reveal such files to the USA's electorate shortly before the 2016 Presidential election and thus might enable Trump to defeat Clinton.
In April 2016, the CIA leadership received from Oleg Smolenkov, its spy inside Moscow's Presidential Administration, a tape-recording of a conversation indicating that planning for such an October Surprise was underway.
Then in May 2016, Australian diplomat Alexander Downer had a conversation with George Papadopoulos, who supposedly indicated that Russian Intelligence already was coordinating with a member of Donald Trump's campaign staff to prepare such an October Surprise.
The official story is that Downer did not inform the US Government about that May conversation until July 2016, but there is good reason to think that the CIA actually was informed about it immediately in May.
In this situation, the FBI leadership figured that the likely culprit(s) on Trump's campaign staff was (were) one of the following four suspects:
1) Carter Page
2) Paul Manafort
3) Michael Flynn
4) George Papadopoulos
Therefore, the FBI initially applied for a FISA warrant on all four suspects in June 2016, but the FISA judge rejected the application.
Eventually, the FBI narrowed its application to just Page and therefore was able to obtain a FISA warrant against him in October 2016.
That is the context of the various investigations of Page beginning in April 2016. One such investigation was conducted by Fusion GPS, which apparently received some information about the CIA/FBI concern about Page. Fusion GPS could have received such information from the Perkins Coie law firm, which received it from Hillary Clinton and/or her closest associates.
But in fact we know why the FBI was investigating Page already in early 2016--it had to do with his actions in New York and the investigation was initiated there.
Fusion GPS played a role in this history, but not the main, driving role. Well before Fusion GPS involved itself, the CIA and FBI leaderships already were panicking that Russian Intelligence might use hacked Clinton files to accomplish an October Surprise that might enable Trump to defeat Clinton in the November 2016 election.
Fusion GPS's main contributions were 1) to provide some information (Dossier reports) that supposedly did not reach the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane team until the last half of September 2016, and 2) to agitate some journalists to investigate and report various suspicions.
Perhaps Fusion GPS's Dossier reports did provide the FBI leadership the final evidence necessary to justify the FISA warrant against Carter Page in mid-October 2016. However, if Fusion GPS had done nothing at all, the political history would not have changed much.
======
As it turned out, no such October Surprise happened, and Trump defeated Clinton on legitimate issues.
After the election, though, the CIA and FBI leaderships continued to promote suspicions that Trump was involved in some nefarious relationship with the Russian Government. Those leaderships managed to cause the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate such suspicions.
However, Fusion GPS's Dossier essentially was ignored in that investigation, because the Dossier essentially was just a side-show that entertained the public. The Special Counsel's investigation pursued evidence that was provided by the CIA and FBI -- not evidence provided in the Dossier.
Sure. That's why I agree that catching people in government really isn't at the heart of it. Nevertheless, from a personal perspective I'd like to see some ...
I'd like to know why Boesberg didn't ship Clinesmith to prison.
So at best, the FBI was tricked by the Clinton Campaign. Which means they're really really stupid. At worse, the FBI did dirty work for the Clinton Campaign which means they're criminal.
Either way they should be shutdown. We really don't need a stupid or corrupt FBI.
The fundamental problem in this history was that the CIA leadership and FBI leadership were far too concerned that Donald Trump might defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
For the sake of argument, let's suppose that the Russian Government indeed did have a lot of files indicating that Hillary Clinton had abused her Secretary of State position to compel foreigners to contribute money to her Clinton Foundation. Let's suppose further that the Russian Government was planning to reveal such information to the US electorate in an October Surprise.
I myself do not think that it was the business of the CIA/FBI to prevent such a revelation.
Furthermore, I think that the CIA/FBI gladly would have allowed the Russian Government to accomplish an analogous October Surprise against Trump.
======
Because the CIA/FBI hated Trump so much and feared an October Surprise in his favor so much, the CIA/FBI abandoned its professional objectivity and political neutrality.
For example, the suspicions against Carter Page were ludicrous.
For another example, the suspicions that Trump was communicating secretly with Russian Intelligence through Alfa Bank were ludicrous.
The CIA/FBI leaderships -- and many other entities -- were eager to believe any ludicrous, absurd, nonsensical insinuations against Trump.
For example, there was something suspicious about the fact that Carter Page -- a US businessman for many years in Russia -- was invited to speak at a graduation ceremony at a business college in Russia. That graduation speech in July 2016 was supposed to prove that Page's real reason for visiting Russia at that time was to coordinate with Russian Intelligence to accomplish an October Surprise in the USA's Presidential election.
When such stupid suspicions were discussed within the US Intelligence Community or among US journalists, somebody should have just laughed out loud at the preposterous paranoia, but nobody did so. Everyone in those circles was panicked that Trump might defeat Clinton in the election.
The FBI leadership and CIA leadership feared that Russian Intelligence had hacked a lot of computer files that would show that Hillary Clinton had abused her Secretary of State position to compel foreigners to donate money to her Clinton Foundation. Russian Intelligence might reveal such files to the USA's electorate shortly before the 2016 Presidential election and thus might enable Trump to defeat Clinton.
In April 2016, the CIA leadership received from Oleg Smolenkov, its spy inside Moscow's Presidential Administration, a tape-recording of a conversation indicating that planning for such an October Surprise was underway.
Then in May 2016, Australian diplomat Alexander Downer had a conversation with George Papadopoulos, who supposedly indicated that Russian Intelligence already was coordinating with a member of Donald Trump's campaign staff to prepare such an October Surprise.
The official story is that Downer did not inform the US Government about that May conversation until July 2016, but there is good reason to think that the CIA actually was informed about it immediately in May.
In this situation, the FBI leadership figured that the likely culprit(s) on Trump's campaign staff was (were) one of the following four suspects:
1) Carter Page
2) Paul Manafort
3) Michael Flynn
4) George Papadopoulos
Therefore, the FBI initially applied for a FISA warrant on all four suspects in June 2016, but the FISA judge rejected the application.
Eventually, the FBI narrowed its application to just Page and therefore was able to obtain a FISA warrant against him in October 2016.
That is the context of the various investigations of Page beginning in April 2016. One such investigation was conducted by Fusion GPS, which apparently received some information about the CIA/FBI concern about Page. Fusion GPS could have received such information from the Perkins Coie law firm, which received it from Hillary Clinton and/or her closest associates.
But in fact we know why the FBI was investigating Page already in early 2016--it had to do with his actions in New York and the investigation was initiated there.
Fusion GPS played a role in this history, but not the main, driving role. Well before Fusion GPS involved itself, the CIA and FBI leaderships already were panicking that Russian Intelligence might use hacked Clinton files to accomplish an October Surprise that might enable Trump to defeat Clinton in the November 2016 election.
Fusion GPS's main contributions were 1) to provide some information (Dossier reports) that supposedly did not reach the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane team until the last half of September 2016, and 2) to agitate some journalists to investigate and report various suspicions.
Perhaps Fusion GPS's Dossier reports did provide the FBI leadership the final evidence necessary to justify the FISA warrant against Carter Page in mid-October 2016. However, if Fusion GPS had done nothing at all, the political history would not have changed much.
======
As it turned out, no such October Surprise happened, and Trump defeated Clinton on legitimate issues.
After the election, though, the CIA and FBI leaderships continued to promote suspicions that Trump was involved in some nefarious relationship with the Russian Government. Those leaderships managed to cause the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate such suspicions.
However, Fusion GPS's Dossier essentially was ignored in that investigation, because the Dossier essentially was just a side-show that entertained the public. The Special Counsel's investigation pursued evidence that was provided by the CIA and FBI -- not evidence provided in the Dossier.
Sure. That's why I agree that catching people in government really isn't at the heart of it. Nevertheless, from a personal perspective I'd like to see some ...
Please stop it.
Makes sense.