Althouse: Trump on the Fusion GPS "dossier" — the Dems only confessed because the judge was about to reveal it...

October 26, 2017

Trump on the Fusion GPS "dossier" — the Dems only confessed because the judge was about to reveal it...

... and he thinks he knows the name of one Republican who started it: "I think I would know... but let's find out who it was... If I were to guess, I would have one name in mind."

The whole 15-minute encounter with the press is excellent and worth listening to, but I've set it up to begin at the part about the one Republican he would have to guess.

We could guess which name he's purporting to guess. What do you think?

147 comments:

Patrick said...: Christie. None ood the others would play this level of hard ball.; 10/26/17, 11:35 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Can't belive you don't have McCain on the list.; 10/26/17, 11:35 AM
TWW said...: It's McCain.; 10/26/17, 11:35 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: This is also the way most people will hear about Hillary-DNC collusion with Russia. From him directly right around the MSM filters.; 10/26/17, 11:35 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I'm thinking Jeb.; 10/26/17, 11:36 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Re McCain

I didn't consider that it might be someone who wasn't a candidate.

What about Romney? Romney considered entering the race, and Romney was the biggest anti-Trumper.; 10/26/17, 11:38 AM
Jaq said...: According to the WaPo, the dossier wasn't begun until the Democrats engaged GPS. The Republican, per GPS, was looking for shady business dealings.

This could possibly be the SMOD we had all prayed for, Sweet Meteor of Death, that wipes out both of them. But I kind of doubt it, the Democrats have to be tired of dragging around Hillary's girthy, and rotting political corpse by now.; 10/26/17, 11:40 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Romney is interesting addition. But I'll stick to ¡Jeb!

FusionGPS is pure uniparty. No one is more uniparty than the Bushies.; 10/26/17, 11:41 AM
Sprezzatura said...: "I'm thinking Jeb."

As is most everyone else, according to the poll w/ 40 folks having responded.

Presumably, folks are thinking that this may have been one of the ways that Jeb wasted a hundred million.

Plus, the Bush folks are known to play hardball w/ political hits.; 10/26/17, 11:41 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Whomever was the client, they had ended any association with Fusion in March 2016. Two months before Hillary's campaign hired them.; 10/26/17, 11:41 AM
Original Mike said...: It's really important to note that the Russians and Christopher Steele only entered the picture AFTER the Republican funder had exited the scene and the Dems entered. The Dem spinners have been falling all over themselves the last couple of days to bring up the Republican funder at every opportunity, but it's a red herring.; 10/26/17, 11:41 AM
Saint Croix said...: McCain? No way.

This sort of thing is expensive. You are talking about millions of dollars in costs, I would think. And you'd need a reason to spend that kind of money.

Jeb Bush.; 10/26/17, 11:42 AM
Jaq said...: Jeb was the money-bags with the big connections. My sister lived in South Carolina and registered as a Republican to cause mischief in the R primaries. She showed me piles of glossy direct mail aimed and Rubio by Jeb!.; 10/26/17, 11:42 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: In other words this is more smoke to screen the Clintons.; 10/26/17, 11:43 AM
Hagar said...: I thought it was supposed to be a "major donor"?; 10/26/17, 11:43 AM
mockturtle said...: Jeb had the money and the motive.; 10/26/17, 11:43 AM
Big Mike said...: Might be Romney or McCain, but my guess is still Jeb. Jeb is the one most likely to have passed it along to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the DNC.; 10/26/17, 11:43 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: I thought it was a GOP donor who funded the original work. That donor may be linked to a candidate (prob Jeb) but that's not the same as Jeb's election campaign doing the funding, like Hillary. But Trump doesn't do that type of nuance. Just have to see.; 10/26/17, 11:43 AM
mockturtle said...: Patrick asserts: Christie. None ood the others would play this level of hard ball.

Hah! You haven't read much about the Bush family dynasty, have you? What is done under the cloak of gentle breeding can be far more insidious than what a crass, edgy pol like Christie could achieve.; 10/26/17, 11:46 AM
Anonymous said...: tim in vermont: This could possibly be the SMOD we had all prayed for, Sweet Meteor of Death, that wipes out both of them. But I kind of doubt it...

Yeah, it won't happen, cockroaches can survive anything, even if a few get squashed and the rest have to scuttle to a new nest.

But your hypothetical brought a smile to my face and brightened the morning anyway.; 10/26/17, 11:46 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Look at Hillary's 10/31/2016 ttweet DEMANDING Trump "disclose all his ties to Russia"! It's on Instapundit today. The woman is shameless. A master of projection.; 10/26/17, 11:46 AM
mccullough said...: I thought it was a donor, not a candidate/campaign. The campaigns seem like they would have done oppo research earlier. I'm going with Romney. He was inserting himself around this time and Trump business dealings would be something of interest to him.; 10/26/17, 11:46 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I wonder if the crowd wisdom is correct in this instance.; 10/26/17, 11:49 AM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: Big Mike said...
Might be Romney or McCain, but my guess is still Jeb. Jeb is the one most likely to have passed it along to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and the DNC.

This has been known for some time.; 10/26/17, 11:49 AM
bbkingfish said...: Trump is stumbling so badly that he wants to deflect by talking about Russia.

We're getting great again. Everything is going according to plan.; 10/26/17, 11:49 AM
Virgil Hilts said...: I have been following Sean Davis at the Federalist who seems to have devoted his life to the subject. https://twitter.com/seanmdav

He made the point the other day that of course it was the Dems funding it, we all kind of new that. But who else was funding it. Why is Fusion GPS fighting so hard to keep their bank records secret. Because. . . they were also being funded by Russian agencies and/or cut outs. That's the second shoe that a lot of people think may be about to drop. Then the narrative changes quite a bit.; 10/26/17, 11:50 AM
Jaq said...: I think we dodged a bullet both when McCain, whom I voted for, and Romney, whom I voted for, lost.; 10/26/17, 11:50 AM
Anonymous said...: I vote ¡Jeb!.

But that's just because I think that would be the funniest.; 10/26/17, 11:50 AM
CStanley said...: It was supposed to have been a major donor with no ties to the war chest of any of the candidates.

Of course Trump's suspicions may be incorrect, and I would guess he suspects Jeb even if that's not accurate. McCain is an interesting possibility, especially since he turns up later in the story. Who are his big donors?; 10/26/17, 11:53 AM
William said...: Are you really asking which Republican candidate do you dislike the most?; 10/26/17, 11:53 AM
Jaq said...: I definitely believe The Daily Kos over the Washington Post, who said that the dossier wasn't even begun until the Dems stepped in and Steele was hired.

Marc E. Elias, a lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC, retained Fusion GPS, a Washington firm, to conduct the research.
After that, Fusion GPS hired dossier author Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer with ties to the FBI and the U.S. intelligence community, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But keep playing ARM. We all know that non partisans put their faith in the Daily Kos.

In March, Washington Post used anonymous sources to report the FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to spy on U.S. citizen Carter Page, an unpaid and informal adviser to the Donald Trump campaign, as part of an investigation into links between Russia and the Trump campaign. CNN used anonymous sources to report that the infamous “golden showers” dossier was used as part of the justification to win approval to monitor the Trump associate.

A Clinton campaign opposition research operation using information or disinformation from top Russian intelligence officials was used by the FBI, these sources say, to enable spying on an opposing political party’s campaign.; 10/26/17, 11:54 AM
Rae said...: The Republican has to be a reliable Dem ally or we would have heard the name already.; 10/26/17, 11:55 AM
traditionalguy said...: Remember, the Bush Family cabal called on their retainers tried to fix the nomination for Low Energy Son by immediately raising $150,000,000 to scare away Romney, or any other serious candidates, from daring to run. I think that cabal easily would have started their old MI5 friend making up a pile of anti Trump dirt after a few months of Trump leading JEB in the polls. What else could their $150,000,000 do at that point when Terrible Trump refused to scare.; 10/26/17, 11:57 AM
Mr. Groovington said...: Poll aside, Trump did well there.; 10/26/17, 11:58 AM
rehajm said...: Logic would dictate this stuff is funded away from the campaigns for deniability, likely by individual or group of greasers an appropriate distance from the horse they were counting on.

I'll take the field.; 10/26/17, 11:58 AM
Jaq said...: Yeah, it was a serious own goal for the Democrats to pay for it directly, but since they never planned on losing, I guess they figured "WTF"?; 10/26/17, 12:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Why not Bloomberg? Hates PDT, RINO, maybe did it for Hillary! as a favor. When it didn't pan out she decided to tack a little farther off the wind - (I like my metaphors shaken, not stirred).

But the most likely instigator was Jeb!

-livermoron; 10/26/17, 12:02 PM
Jaq said...: Trump is stumbling so badly that he wants to deflect by talking about Russia.

Yes! All is proceeding as the Democrats have foreseen!; 10/26/17, 12:04 PM
Jaq said...: It would be priceless if it were Bloomberg. Too much to hope for, though. Bloomberg would now all of the dirt he needed to know from his own dealings and network.; 10/26/17, 12:05 PM
Drago said...: bbkingfish: "Trump is stumbling so badly that he wants to deflect by talking about Russia"

LOL

Oh my gosh. That comment is so very, very, sad.

Unbelievable that bb thought it would be a good idea to post that...or maybe all too believable.

ev; 10/26/17, 12:06 PM
n.n said...: McCain had his fingers in Obama's pies from Syria to Ukraine, and would have the same interest as Clinton to prevent a political outsider from interrupting, investigating the status quo.; 10/26/17, 12:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: The. Bush Family was enmeshed with Bill Clinton in Haiti contributions theft. So whomever won between JEB and Hillary, the other Globalist crook would have been safe. So it makes sense that a Bush planned scam was easily transferred to Hillary when JEB crashed and burned.; 10/26/17, 12:12 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Turd Blossom (Karl Rove).; 10/26/17, 12:12 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Jeb! is the smart bet but Kasich shouldn't be ruled out.
Someone w/Google skillz should find an official betting line--there has to be prop bet action on this topic.

(related: the betting odds for Amazon's new HQ put Austin as #1 and Atlanta as the #2 most likely. I can't decide if I want them to come here or not!); 10/26/17, 12:15 PM
Original Mike said...: "But keep playing ARM. We all know that non partisans put their faith in the Daily Kos."

Eminently reasonable, man.; 10/26/17, 12:15 PM
Anonymous said...: I think the MSM is going to push the 'but a Republican started this' meme as hard as they can, but is that doesn't work they are going to need to bump up the Weinstein story as a distraction.
Bad day to be a Democrat.

With all this turmoil in Leftist arenas I am wondering if this is the beginning of a preference cascade?; 10/26/17, 12:16 PM
bleh said...: Dana Rohrabacher; 10/26/17, 12:18 PM
cubanbob said...: Original Mike and Virgil are right. The timing is wrong for a Republican operation.This reeks of Clinton involvement.; 10/26/17, 12:27 PM
Birches said...: I thought about Romney but went with Jeb.; 10/26/17, 12:27 PM
Vance said...: You know, it didn't get much traction at the time nationally, but back in 2015 Jeb flew out to Utah and met with Romney.... and Romney from that day forth always said he wasn't running. Jeb got to Romney, so I'm pretty sure Romney wasn't the instigator.

My guess? Obama. He's well established as someone who plays dirty tricks (see various divorce records like Jeri Ryan). The "funded by a Republican first!" is a head fake.

--Vance; 10/26/17, 12:29 PM
Jaq said...: Yes, BD, that sure looks bad for Trump! It's almost as if he were doing Putin's bidding for years using the power of his office! Oh wait, that was Hillary. Maybe he took huge payments from the Russians! Oh wait, that was Hillary! Maybe he hid the details of a Russian spy ring in order to get a deal Putin wanted very badly approved? Oh wait, that was Mueller and Obama...

So what are the charges against Dana Rohrabache? He doesn't believe we should be at war with Russia? Just a few short years ago, a "reset' was Obama and Hillary's official policy? But hey, Obama didn't believe in gay marriage then either!; 10/26/17, 12:30 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "It's McCain."

-- Wouldn't make sense with the timeline, or the claim he received it from a source and handed it off. It's possible, but any of the actual people in contention in the primary are more likely.; 10/26/17, 12:31 PM
Jaq said...: The fact that Clapper is so willing to publicly step into partisan politics is pretty damn strange.; 10/26/17, 12:33 PM
brylun said...: January 13, 2017: Jeb Bush DENIES BBC claim that he ordered the dirty dossier, but "However, Bush’s camp have not specifically ruled out any contact with FusionGPS."; 10/26/17, 12:33 PM
Jaq said...: BDNYC, the '80s called and they want their foreign policy back!; 10/26/17, 12:34 PM
Jaq said...: "However, Bush’s camp have not specifically ruled out any contact with FusionGPS."

Perfectly consistent with the facts as we know them, unless you count ARM's link to the Daily Kos as "factual."; 10/26/17, 12:35 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "I thought it was a GOP donor who funded the original work."

-- The actual allegation has been: A republican; a major GOP donor; the RNC; a republican presidential campaign team. It hasn't been set in stone, which is why I'm waiting and seeing.; 10/26/17, 12:35 PM
Todd said...: The current poll results are "telling" and I will admit having selected the current poll leader. Even if he had nothing to do with it, it is telling that so many thought him capable of being the instigator...; 10/26/17, 12:36 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "Logic would dictate this stuff is funded away from the campaigns for deniability, likely by individual or group of greasers an appropriate distance from the horse they were counting on."

-- And yet, look how sloppily Clinton did it.; 10/26/17, 12:37 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Yesterday evening I spent a couple hours listening to YouTube videos of a guy who calls himself SonofNewo. He is a very interesting talker.

It's not just that his substance is interesting -- his demeanor also is interesting. He is a very watchable person on his videos..

On a thread here yesterday evening, I recommended a couple of his videos about Paul Manafort being an FBI mole.

After I watched his Manafort-is-a-mole videos, I watched his video about how Donald Trump, Jr., was set up by the CIA and FBI on that famous meeting with Natalya Veselnitskaya, et al. in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016.

I had read quite a lot about that meeting, but SonofNewo informed me about much that I had not known. I now have a much clearer understanding about what was going on. Of course, Donald Trump, Jr., was being set up for the purpose of justifying a FISA wire-tapping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwbGP1HjRV8; 10/26/17, 12:38 PM
CStanley said...: The denials of direct responsibility are just to give plausible deniability anyway.

To make it all fit though, I googled to see which "major GOP donors" came out early as never Trumpers, and one that seems likely is Al Hoffman Jr (who is closely aligned with Jen and was a major donor to the super PAC Right to Rise.

Still. This isn't really a big deal since it was normal oppo research, not the Russian disinformation dossier.; 10/26/17, 12:41 PM
CStanley said...: My iPhone keeps wanting to make Jeb into Jen. Heh.; 10/26/17, 12:42 PM
buwaya said...: "Jeb flew out to Utah and met with Romney.... and Romney from that day forth always said he wasn't running. "

How times have changed.
Whatever pull Jeb had with Romney just two years ago are completely irrelevant now.
I expect it was a matter of funding, that Jeb could show that critical money was already committed and that Romney could not out-raise him.

The Trump revolution has entirely upset the value of such factors. Its as if two naval powers decided a treaty on the basis of Naval power measured in battleships. The next years battles, dominated by aircraft carriers, showed that battleships were near-obsolete. Romney may still be kicking himself at being bluffed out of the race by a man with a worthless hand.; 10/26/17, 12:42 PM
PackerBronco said...: Time for the Grand Bargain!

Democrats: "We'll stop investigating the phony Trump Russian collusion scandal if you promise to not investigate the real DNC/Hillary/FBI Russian collusion scandal."

And then the GOPe and neverTrumpers respond: "Boy, what a great deal!!!"; 10/26/17, 12:47 PM
rehajm said...: And yet, look how sloppily Clinton did it.

Sure, but then again Clinton was sloppy about many things. When you have the bulk of the media industrial complex to support you covering your tracks can take a back seat to haste.; 10/26/17, 12:47 PM
rehajm said...: Deniability is for Republicans.; 10/26/17, 12:48 PM
buwaya said...: Clapper is an interesting figure.

He has a lot of information in his head. He has been deep in intelligence work his whole career, and has probably known pretty much all US secrets since at least 1991.

A man who should be pumped.; 10/26/17, 12:49 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: Yesterday The Conservative Treehouse made a good argument that the donor was Rupert Murdoch, acting on behalf of Jeb Bush.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/10/25/no-the-russian-dossier-did-not-begin-with-gop-it-began-with-clinton-and-the-dnc/; 10/26/17, 12:50 PM
Todd said...: There is one name missing from the list that I thought should be obvious: Chuck

I kid, I kid, relax, it was just a joke. Come on, admit it, you thought it was funny too...; 10/26/17, 12:51 PM
rehajm said...: One of the more interesting lesser questions to be raised is when did the Clinton camp think they were losing? I know there was the poll scare coming off the GOP convention in late July but if team Clinton was getting the Trump oppo band back together in June, what does that say?; 10/26/17, 12:54 PM
Original Mike said...: Blogger PackerBronco said...Time for the Grand Bargain!

Democrats: "We'll stop investigating the phony Trump Russian collusion scandal if you promise to not investigate the real DNC/Hillary/FBI Russian collusion scandal."

As this has all come out I've been wondering why the Democrats would initiate the Russian "investigation" when they were the ones who were in bed with Russia. It seems very dangerous. But this is an explanation that makes perfect sense. All of this has been in preparation for this moment.; 10/26/17, 12:56 PM
lgv said...: How about "None of the Above"?

First, it could be a lie generated by Fusion GPS to muddy the waters on the next DNC/Hillary project's origin.

Second, it could have been a Republican donor, working without the knowledge of any of the candidates or their campaigns. If Fusion had come up with something, he would have then let them in on the effort.

The latter is more likely, but it would also mean Fusion came up with nothing, which would also explain why they hired the Brit to bring them fake Russian intel.; 10/26/17, 12:56 PM
Hagar said...: All of the "dossier" is not fake. F. ex., it has been reliably confirmed that there really is a city known as Moskva (English: Moscow) in Russia.; 10/26/17, 12:57 PM
Quaestor said...: ...the Democrats have to be tired of dragging around Hillary's girthy, and rotting political corpse by now.

Hillary's been more than a bit ripe since '92. After 25 years, what's a further decade more or less?; 10/26/17, 1:00 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: I'll add a follow-up comment to my previous comment at 12:38 about the video done by SonofNewo about Donald Trump, Jr., being set up at the meeting on June 9, 2016.

SonofNewo makes an interesting argument that two of the people at that meeting were supposed sources for the infamous dossier written by Christopher Steele.

1) Steele's so-called "Source D" was Rob Goldstone, the British music producer who sent the e-mails to Donald Trump, Jr., urging him to meet Natalya Veselnitskaya.

2) Steel's so-called "Source B" was Rinat Akhmetshin, the former Soviet counter-intelligence officer who now is a US citizen.

In other words, two of Steele's four major "sources" were people who live in the West. Furthermore, those two sources attended the Trump Tower meeting that the CIA organized in order entrap Donald Trump, Jr., for the purpose of justifying FISA wire-tapping.

The video is very interesting and even amusing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwbGP1HjRV8; 10/26/17, 1:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Why even talk about 'The Republican'? That investigation into DT's business dealings ended in March. All that person got was sad trombones.
The 'Russky Ruseky' work by Fusion started in June. I see no connection between the two.
Frankly, were I a Republican presidential candidate I would have also looked as deeply as I could into DT's businesses. I assume they all did so.

I also assume that HRC! did the same. Don't you?

Was she so frustrated by all the non-stories she was uncovering that she decided to just start making shit up? Can you imagine her personal process as she starts with inciting fights at Trump rallies, to hiring women to make false accusations of sexual assault, and then, driven by rage and Don Julio, decides to pull the Russians into the electoral picture by first setting up false flag ops to entrap DTJr and then just saying 'fuck it, I own the press. I am bullet proof.' and goes ahead and, as I wrote earlier, just starts making shit up?
Can't you just see her.
I hereby declare DIBS on the book, TV, and film rights to this scenario. No takebacks allowed.
BTW:It's time for the women HRC hit on to come out and share their stories.
That's mine, too.; 10/26/17, 1:04 PM
n.n said...: A man who should be pumped.

Or plunged.; 10/26/17, 1:05 PM
walter said...: I wonder if Bill was an adviser to Steele.
It takes an especially twisted mind to come up with the Pissgate element.
Oh wait..Huma Weiner was likely in the loop and Tony had time on his hands...; 10/26/17, 1:06 PM
Quaestor said...: Romney may still be kicking himself at being bluffed out of the race by a man with a worthless hand.

More likely kicking the dog... (just kidding!)

If Romney proves to have been connected in any way to "Dossier-gate" (You read it first on Althouse, folks!) Quaestor's gonna write a nasty letter to the pope, or archbishop, or whatever official serves that function for the LDS, insisting on his immediate excommunication.; 10/26/17, 1:07 PM
Titus said...: You guys are getting hard and splewing all over the place because you think something is going to happen.

Nothing will happen. Wasted hardon.; 10/26/17, 1:08 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "when did the Clinton camp think they were losing?"

-- About the point in the night that someone besides Clinton came out to concede.; 10/26/17, 1:11 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: I watched that video clip; the first time I've seen video of DJT since... Charlottesville, probably, or even before that. Mr Trump looked like a happy man! not at all like the evil debased power-mad conspirator I read about in the Times/WaPo/Guardian, for some reason.; 10/26/17, 1:11 PM
BuckIV said...: "one name" Jeb!; 10/26/17, 1:11 PM
buwaya said...: "As this has all come out I've been wondering why the Democrats would initiate the Russian "investigation" when they were the ones who were in bed with Russia."

Many possible explanations, and it is a very interesting question.
Some of these may lie in the area of a misunderstanding of the balance of power.
I.e., that the Trump victory did not really grant him or his partisans the institutional power to protect himself from the full fury of the Washington-media system. That is, once in Washington he was assumed to be in THEIR power, and could be destroyed, or at least intimidated into something safe. I have been and still am expecting the latter, but who knows.

The Mueller hunting expedition (or whatever other hunting expedition could be arranged, something of this sort was inevitable) can be expected to find something, no matter its relevance to the charges.; 10/26/17, 1:16 PM
rehajm said...: Why even talk about 'The Republican'? That investigation into DT's business dealings ended in March. All that person got was sad trombones.

I agree. When you're selling information it's a bonus when you can sell the same product to two different clients. It might be no more than that...

Was she so frustrated by all the non-stories she was uncovering that she decided to just start making shit up?

I agree and would place this somewhere past plausible and near highly likely. I tried to make the same inference re: 'making it up' in the agitprop post yesterday. When you're trying to bump the polls the quality or gravity of the contents of the dossier are far less important than the existence of a dossier with information that can be 'corroborated' by multiple government agencies.; 10/26/17, 1:20 PM
Ralph L said...: but if team Clinton was getting the Trump oppo band back together in June, what does that say?
That was my thought, but Nixon was much further ahead in Summer 1972.; 10/26/17, 1:23 PM
Original Mike said...: " That is, once in Washington he was assumed to be in THEIR power, and could be destroyed, or at least intimidated into something safe."

Trump needs to clean house at the DOJ or they'll be correct. I was never very happy with the Sessions appointment. It's turning out I was right, but for the wrong reasons.; 10/26/17, 1:24 PM
Matt Sablan said...: I think Clinton, or at least the campaign, *honestly believed this whole golden showers dossier.* That's the problem with the Clinton campaign in particular and Democrats in general.

They *truly* believe any crazy thing you tell them about Republicans. And, that, I think, is why they pushed it so hard.; 10/26/17, 1:24 PM
buwaya said...: "Frankly, were I a Republican presidential candidate I would have also looked as deeply as I could into DT's businesses."

Of course. But Mueller has resources none of these campaigns had, hundreds of investigating personnel overseen by dozens of veteran lawyers, plus the power and prestige of the DOJ. They have the ability to subpoena, obtain warrants to search premises (Manaforts home would not have been the only one), etc.

On the principle of "ham sandwich nation" such an effort should be able to find something on anyone.; 10/26/17, 1:25 PM
gadfly said...: I am astounded that you would think that any dumbass encounter between the president and his press corps could possibly be labeled as "outstanding."

Talking childishly to adult children just doesn't pass the muster.; 10/26/17, 1:33 PM
bleh said...: If Hillary had won, would this be her Watergate?; 10/26/17, 1:33 PM
n.n said...: the institutional power to protect himself from the full fury of the Washington-media system

Mainstream media and the Deep State/bureaucracy. Apparently, the Clintons burned one too many bridges, and those people sacrificed have now found a new life with Trump, the billionaire, media savvy political outsider. It helps, of course, that conservatives have been patient and discerning over the four trimester baby hunt.; 10/26/17, 1:33 PM
Original Mike said...: "If Hillary had won, would this be her Watergate?"

Of course not. She'd have both the DOJ and the media on her side. None of this would have surfaced.; 10/26/17, 1:35 PM
n.n said...: would this be her Watergate

No. The evidence is that she was a principal, not an incidental accomplice, to the commission.

No, this is Water Closet. I wonder who Deep Plunger, or, more likely: Plungers, may be.; 10/26/17, 1:36 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "If Hillary had won, would this be her Watergate?"

-- Who would have leaked on her? Remember: All of this was happening while she ran. Which of her lieutenants do you see reasonably flipping on her, or which institution do you see finding someone who would leak to the press?

Remember: Until her campaign agreed yesterday this was true, anyone who thought the DNC or Clinton campaign paid for the dossier were considered conspiracy theory nutjobs and part of the VRWC.; 10/26/17, 1:41 PM
sy1492 said...: By far and away, its John McCain; 10/26/17, 1:44 PM
Quaestor said...: As this has all come out I've been wondering why the Democrats would initiate the Russian "investigation" when they were the ones who were in bed with Russia.

I addressed this yesterday at 11:14 PM; 10/26/17, 1:49 PM
buwaya said...: "I addressed this yesterday at 11:14 PM'

An excellent post, which I regret I failed to praise yesterday.

Still, it assumes the whole thing or much of it was a matter of HC's judgement, or the deficiencies thereof. I am not comfortable with assuming that HC had much to do with her own campaign at all, much less coordination of something of even larger complexity, the anti-Trump effort since then.; 10/26/17, 1:58 PM
buwaya said...: I think HC is now and has been much more a pawn than a player.; 10/26/17, 2:01 PM
bleh said...: As this has all come out I've been wondering why the Democrats would initiate the Russian "investigation" when they were the ones who were in bed with Russia.

I think nearly all of the Democrats who've pushed this Russia investigation were in the dark about what other Democrats were doing sub rosa. The question in my mind is why the higher-ups in the party who were aware didn't yank on the chain a bit before things got too crazy.; 10/26/17, 2:05 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Quaestor said...Hillary's been more than a bit ripe since '92. After 25 years, what's a further decade more or less?

There's a lot of ruin in a nation--seems like a bunch in a failed Queen, too.; 10/26/17, 2:07 PM
madAsHell said...: "I'd rather not say, but you'll be surprised"

I love it. He is going to have the press eating out of his hand. It's good to see a President with a command presence.; 10/26/17, 2:10 PM
grackle said...: Nothing will happen. Wasted hardon.

Where’s a really cute Ficus when you really need it?; 10/26/17, 2:10 PM
Jaq said...: what other Democrats were doing sub rosa. The question in my mind is why the higher-ups in the party who were aware didn't yank on the chain a bit before things got too crazy.

DW Sgt Shultz was toppled by Wikileaks; 10/26/17, 2:11 PM
madAsHell said...: The question in my mind is why the higher-ups in the party who were aware didn't yank on the chain a bit before things got too crazy.

It is incompetence wrapped in arrogance inside an entitlement.....or you could just say Hillary.; 10/26/17, 2:14 PM
Michael K said...: Hillary’s agents do not turn on her or they get shot in a “robbery “ in which nothing is taken.; 10/26/17, 2:16 PM
Anonymous said...: This may finally get all those Menendez trial headlines off the front page!; 10/26/17, 2:20 PM
Kevin said...: will be really funny if it turns out to be Ana Navarro.

The icing on the cake of 2016.; 10/26/17, 2:21 PM
Kevin said...: I think HC is now and has been much more a pawn than a player.

She won't have known anything about the dossier until she heard about it on CNN...; 10/26/17, 2:23 PM
JB71-AZ said...: I'm thinking it was McCain.

"God-damned jumped up television jackass - I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to sit back and let some clown take the White House. Why, that bastard didn't work his way up - he thinks he can just waltz right in and try for the Presidency? I'll stop that bastard, if it's the last thing I do, and I don't care what it takes."; 10/26/17, 2:23 PM
goindownslow said...: Rupert Murdoch is my guess. See here: https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/10/25/no-the-russian-dossier-did-not-begin-with-gop-it-began-with-clinton-and-the-dnc/#more-140362; 10/26/17, 2:27 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: Dang, after I voted Jeb! I read two Twitter threads where some random people say the money came from two big donors (one in CA and one in NY) who primarily raised money for/supported Rubio.

I mean, they didn't offer any actual evidence, but that's a very specific assertion and everyone knows that precision is the same thing as accuracy. Revote!; 10/26/17, 2:33 PM
Nonapod said...: As far as I can glean, there's no evidence that any Republican had anything to do with the funding for the dossier itself.

There is no evidence that a Republican donor or Republican campaign was ever involved with the Russian dossier. Fusion GPS claimed to reporters (though they did not provide evidence) that a Republican funded separate opposition research on Trump, dealing with his business interests. But as the Washington Post itself reports, the dossier did not exist until after the Democrats hired Fusion GPS (from here)

So what the hell is Trump going on about? Does he know or think he knows something? Is he referring to the dossier itself or about anti Trump oppo-research in general by Fussion GPS? Is he purposely muddying the water for some other reason?; 10/26/17, 2:34 PM
James K said...: If Hillary had won, would this be her Watergate?

No, because only Republicans eat their own. Democrats close ranks like good soldiers. Any impeachment vote would have gotten zero Democrat "Ayes."; 10/26/17, 2:36 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "Logic would dictate this stuff is funded away from the campaigns for deniability, likely by individual or group of greasers an appropriate distance from the horse they were counting on."

"-- And yet, look how sloppily Clinton did it."

First, and foremost, I don't think that she was really running things. Not as bad as Obama, but she sure seemed to be MIA a lot during the campaign. They also had a huge pile of money to burn through, and probably a bunch of people doing the spending. Never seemed that coordinated. Then there is the brazen/dumb factor. Surely, she should have realized that her secret email server would be discovered, esp after knowing that her VRC (Vast Rightwing Conspiracy) had been after her since her WH days. And, surely, given the > $Billion flushing through her family foundation/slush fund, and the > $100 million that they managed to acquire personally through speaking fees, book deals, etc, she should have realized that their pay-to-play scheme would be discovered. But she did it anyway. And she was protected while Obama was in the White House - the investigations into her email server and foundation were essentially killed by an accommodating AG. Why wouldn't she figure that she could keep the winning streak going, when she was the one picking the AG? To the victor go the spoils, and one of those is the Dept of Justice. At the time that this stuff was done, she was still a slam dunk for returning to the White House. In fact, I think that there is some evidence that she never really realized that she was losing, until she had lost on election night.; 10/26/17, 2:38 PM
Jessica said...: I held my nose when I voted for Trump. I was deeply conflicted but felt it was the best course of action given the options. But I have warmed to him. He's incredibly flawed and I sometimes want to wring his neck. But it is so gratifying to have a president who refuses to accept the narratives generated by the liberal media and culture. For once, a Republican who fights back against unfair smears rather than laying down to take his beating.; 10/26/17, 2:52 PM
bleh said...: In all seriousness, I think it was either Jeb or McCain. Jeb because he was Donald's prime target early in the primaries. McCain because, as I recall, he was one of the people who handed the dossier over to the FBI, suggesting a prior relationship with Fusion GPS. At least I remember reading that somewhere -- maybe it's not true.

Trump wants to encourage all this speculation because it puts his opponents in the GOP in a bad light. They opposed him early on, and because of their deranged hatred for him they paid a disreputable firm with shadowy foreign ties to dig up dirt on him. The investigation ballooned, became a Russian disinfo campaign, created an excuse for the FBI to spy on the GOP campaign, and led to a special counsel investigation. Whoever started this is in league with Hillary, the DNC, and the Russians. Trump's a dick, so he's happy to let this become a purge where GOPers are pressured to profess their loyalty to him.; 10/26/17, 2:54 PM
Original Mike said...: "Whoever started this is in league with Hillary, the DNC, and the Russians"

The reporting to date is that the Republican funder (is that who you mean by "whoever started this"?) had nothing to do with Fusion GPS.; 10/26/17, 3:03 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I going on with my Sgt Shultz defense of Crooked Hillary, one of the things that has struck me is how badly Democrats run the federal govt in recent decades. You probably have to maybe go back to Carter, or maybe even JFK, to find Dem Presidents who knew how to delegate (LBJ between them was the model for Obama). Obama was picking drone targets, between his golf games, while the remaining 99% of the govt was running on autopilot. The cabinet posts were almost run like fiefdoms, allocated to political interest groups in the coalition that elected him. It comes from having a JD and no management experience whatsoever before being elected to run the govt with millions of employees and trillion dollar budgets. Crooked Hillary was only marginally better prepared. Sure, she is a micromanager, but one person can't micromanage the > $billion that her campaign had to spend. Which means that she was likely micromanaging 1% of what was going on with her campaign, what money was being spent, and her people were doing the rest. And, notably, the primary qualification for being in her inner circle has long been personal loyalty to her, and not any real competence. GW Bush, his father, Reagan, esp Eisenhower, showed the ability to delegate. Trump, of course, is doing an excellent job at it, which is part of why ISIS collapsed. Both Romney and, yes, McCain, had both the training and experience in that area too (remember - McCain retired O6, had attended War College, and been offered flag rank, before entering politics).

(My prejudices against JD degree holders running the govt comes from having such, plus an MBA. Business school teaches you how to delegate. Law school teaches you how to micromanage, and most everything you learn as an atty teaches such, and away from delegating).; 10/26/17, 3:06 PM
Yancey Ward said...: McCain and Romney both belong in the poll, though I would not have chosen them anyway. I think that the if the story is true, and the "Republican donor" stopped the work in March of 2016, then that argues for one of the candidates who withdrew around early March of 2016. I think Bush is the most likely one to have had the kind of money it apparently took to hire GPSFusion. If his campaign did this, you can be sure he used a cutout like Clinton did.; 10/26/17, 3:26 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "McCain because, as I recall, he was one of the people who handed the dossier over to the FBI, suggesting a prior relationship with Fusion GPS"

-- McCain's story, as I remember it, is he was provided the dossier and, even though he didn't spend a lot of time verifying it, thought that it was worth giving to the FBI just by virtue of what it was. I don't think he ever speculated on the truthiness of it.; 10/26/17, 3:29 PM
Original Mike said...: I said..."The reporting to date is that the Republican funder (is that who you mean by "whoever started this"?) had nothing to do with Fusion GPS."

Not FusionGPS; The reporting to date is that the Republican funder had nothing to do with Christopher Steele.

The story is hard to keep straight.; 10/26/17, 3:33 PM
Man in PA said...: The BBC had initially fingered Jeb Bush as employing FusionGPS and Christopher Steele to investigate Trump. The Jeb Bush campaign immediately came out with a denial.

However, look carefully at the denial: "It is absolutely not true that Governor Bush had any knowledge or involvement with [Christopher Steele] and his allegations."

The JB campaign did not actually deny employing FusionGPS; they only deny working with Steele. This actually fits the facts as we now know them. We know that some GOP person hired FusionGPS and dropped them in March, 2016. After FusionGPS was picked up by Hillary/Dems, FusionGPS hired Steele in June, 2016. Steele compiled the "dossier."; 10/26/17, 3:34 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Althouse said, "What about Romney? Romney considered entering the race, and Romney was the biggest anti-Trumper."

It's a good question. Romney is like last year's homecoming king. Nobody knows him or cares about him anymore. When he went public against Trump (and that costs money and time and ties, folks), it showed Romney's foul pride.; 10/26/17, 3:37 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I will also repeat a theory someone else proposed yesterday in one of the threads, though I don't remember who it was:

The commenter wondered why the name wasn't already leaked and hypothesized that the "Republican donor" was someone who actually donated once to Republicans, but is usually associated with Democrats. The press who knew the name would, of course, find "Republican donor" more useful to the narrative than the actual name in that case.; 10/26/17, 3:41 PM
johns said...: Trump says he thinks he knows, but will wait because it is going to come out. Nice way to get lots of speculation in the MSM. Is this guy clever, or what?; 10/26/17, 4:27 PM
Fabi said...: If we only had a real Republican insider who could set us straight in this matter.; 10/26/17, 5:43 PM
Snark said...: It's not particularly logical to think Democrats would have been the first to shovel money at oppo research on Trump. Virutally nobody on the left seriously entertained him as candidate, so the only people he was in actual opposition to at that point were other Republicans.; 10/26/17, 6:13 PM
Jaq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/26/17, 6:20 PM
Michael K said...: "It's not particularly logical to think Democrats would have been the first to shovel money at oppo research on Trump. "

Agreed. I think it was JEB! early, then the DBC took over.; 10/26/17, 6:31 PM
Original Mike said...: "It's not particularly logical to think Democrats would have been the first to shovel money at oppo research on Trump."

The oppo research at the front end of this is a red herring. It's the funding of Steele to put together the dossier from Russian sources that's outrageous.; 10/26/17, 6:40 PM
Drago said...: Snark: "It's not particularly logical to think Democrats would have been the first to shovel money at oppo research on Trump"

The democrats were absolutely responsible for funding Steele and his collusion with Kremlin-linked Russians to capture made-up nonsense on the republican party candidate and then to funnel that made-up document to dems/lefties/LLR's in the intelligence community who used the made-up document to violate FISA court rules in order to domestically spy on that candidate.

I'm not surprised you are having a difficult time adjusting to this. The denial on the left is approaching galactic proportions.; 10/26/17, 6:48 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “The oppo research at the front end of this is a red herring. It's the funding of Steele to put together the dossier from Russian sources that's outrageous.”

What’s outrageous is that the Trump campaign paid Cambridge Analytica $6 million. What did CA do? Contact Julian Assange and Wikileaks to get dirt on Clinton. Wikileaks got its info from hacks done by the Russians. Hacking is still illegal last I heard.; 10/26/17, 6:50 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Which one Republican does Trump have in mind?

Hahahaha. You actually used the words "Trump" and "mind" in the SAME SENTENCE!

Too funny!; 10/26/17, 6:53 PM
CStanley said...: Yancey I think that was me (unless someone else posted a similar theory.)

As I've thought about it more though I think Occam's razor says that there were plenty of GOPe donors that are likely to have done this.

It bears repeating though that there is nothing at all unusual or mendacious about that since it was unrelated to the Russian dossier.

My new hypothesis to consider is- what if Hillary recommended Fusion GPS to Jeb just so they would have this red herring to throw out there?

None of this is really important anyway but that would be a funny twist.; 10/26/17, 6:59 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: Doesn't anyone else find it just a tad suspicious that we haven't heard a denial of involvement in this whole sordid affair from Mike Pence?; 10/26/17, 9:04 PM
Jaq said...: What did CA do? Contact Julian Assange and Wikileaks to get dirt on Clinton. Wikileaks got its info from hacks done by the Russians. Hacking is still illegal last I heard

If you could be embarrassed by getting stuff wrong, you might want to check your facts. But you would rather mouth Clinton's discredited talking points.; 10/26/17, 9:06 PM
Mark said...: IF some GOP person hired FusionGPS and dropped them in March 2016, it would have been generic good-faith research to see what was out there.

Hillary and DNC, on the other hand, had a different, nefarious intent that was not about "opposition research." What they wanted was a hit piece. What they said was, "Give us dirt on Trump," and FusionGPS knew to provide dirt whatever the real facts were -- much like how the New York Times and Washington Post operate today.

And they off-shored the operation in a vain attempt to keep their fingerprints off it.; 10/26/17, 9:40 PM
narciso said...: Given all the misdirection I doubt that is true, remember fusion as minion of moloch, planned parenthood went after Ro ney donors as they susewuently went after daleiden. The lead fellow behind the anti magnitsky effort waa also behind the dossier:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-coming-russia-bombshells-1509059214; 10/26/17, 9:49 PM
Mark said...: A Democrat disinformation campaign is standard operating procedure.

Remember the story of Bush I secretly flying to Paris in an SR-71 to collude with the Iranians to keep the hostages imprisoned?

Remember the "fake but accurate" scam to try to take down Bush II?; 10/26/17, 9:55 PM
narciso said...: True and one of the first to float this thesis is now pushing the trump/russia connection, you forgot plastic turkey, and 'mission accomplished'; 10/26/17, 9:58 PM
narciso said...: Simpsons precursor company with Susan Schmidt, also slandered a pro western emirate prince UN favor of his pro Iranian brother, sounds a little likeconecof the plots in Syrians.; 10/26/17, 10:01 PM
Clark said...: McCain. Dude's a dick.; 10/26/17, 10:41 PM
Achilles said...: buwaya said...

Romney may still be kicking himself at being bluffed out of the race by a man with a worthless hand.

Romney proved to be completely ineffectual at the end. He couldn't even help Hillary win.

Trump would have crushed Romney head to head. The choker comment/label had already stuck very early on.

I think Romney as well as the rest of the GOPe realizes there is no constituency for them now as well. Now that republican voters jump to any candidate that has the correct position on immigration it is over for them.; 10/26/17, 10:54 PM
Achilles said...: Unknown said...

What’s outrageous is that the Trump campaign paid Cambridge Analytica $6 million. What did CA do? Contact Julian Assange and Wikileaks to get dirt on Clinton. Wikileaks got its info from hacks done by the Russians. Hacking is still illegal last I heard.

The DNC hack was an inside job. Everyone knows this. You have to be a dishonest piece of crap to continue pedaling that now.; 10/26/17, 10:56 PM
Achilles said...: The Toothless Revolutionary said...
Which one Republican does Trump have in mind?

Hahahaha. You actually used the words "Trump" and "mind" in the SAME SENTENCE!

Too funny!

That was just a really stupid post.; 10/26/17, 10:57 PM
narciso said...: Yes Perkins and coie likely committed fraud in their campaign finance reports. Whereas cambridge analytical actually did their job.; 10/26/17, 11:05 PM