Said Roger Stone, "an adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign whose dealings with WikiLeaks are under examination as part of the Russia investigation," quoted in the Wall Street Journal article "Trump’s Allies Urge Harder Line as Mueller Probe Heats Up/President’s legal team had predicted investigation would clear Trump by year’s end" (which was accessible to me without a subscription, arriving from Drudge).
[Trump's lawyer Ty] Cobb, who initially said the probe would wrap up by year’s end if not sooner, stands by his assessment that it’s moving at a reasonable clip. “I don’t see this dragging out,” he said in a recent interview. Mr. Mueller’s team is “committed to trying to help the country and get this done quickly,” Mr. Cobb said, adding, “I commend them for that. And we’re certainly determined to do it.”That does sound sleepwalk-y, but there could be a strategy to talking like that when you really are quite aware of the dangers. There are many situations where X says "I'm sure Y will do the right thing," when X really believes Y will do something else but is trying to nudge Y to do what X wants or lulling Y into thinking that X is not prepared to fight aggressively if Y doesn't do what X wants.
Posts
84 comments:
I will never understand why Trump hasn’t appointed a special prosecutor for Hillary and Comey.
If Trump is going to be cleared, it is in his (and his attorneys) best interest to have been fully supportive of the process. If they want people to rely on the result, they have to give it at lease some credibility.
That, or this really is a plan to not just clear Trump, but also expose the D corruption against him (and other Republicans) from Clinton, DNC, Obama admin. In which case it's even more important that they give Meuller lots of on-the-record support.
Well, they could be appealing to the better nature of Robert Mueller to do the right thing even though they don't really expect him to.
I think Trump is playing rope-a-dope here. He knows more then we think he knows. He's a street fighter. He know when to play his hand.
Exhibit A: Trump says Obambi tapped my wires. The media went off the rails. Months later, lo and behold, it is revealed the Obambi administration was surveilling the campaign.
We have corrupt democrats and a corrupt media (CNN) on the case. Yeah - this will not end soon.
Some excerpts from the article.
“Some of the president’s associates say they want the White House to set up a classic “war room” to respond to the probe, hire attorneys more inclined to challenge Mr. Mueller or to spotlight what they see as an anti-Trump animus on the part of the special counsel.”
Make sure to rehire Steve Bannon to run it. Or better yet Roger Stone!
“When then-President Bill Clinton faced off against an independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, in the 1990s, his allies worked to discredit Mr. Starr and paint him as a partisan—an approach that some of Mr. Trump’s confidants said they would like to emulate.”
And despite that the investigation was completed and Clinton was impeached by the House.
“Asked earlier this year whether the president was happy with his legal team amid criticism from outside advisers, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “I’m not sure how he couldn’t [be].”
Oooops, she lol have to adjust her talking points.
“I predict that these attacks on the FBI will grow louder and more brazen as the special counsel does his work, and the walls close in around the president, and evidence of his obstruction and other misdeeds becomes more apparent,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the House committee’s top Democrat.”
No doubt.everyone is expecting it.
Inga woke up and is in full hysteria mode.
I seem to remember Roger Stone from the Lewandowski book.
In 1980, he co-founded the Washington, DC-based lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone with principals Paul Manafort and Charles R. Black Jr..
Yes, He and Manafort are villains in the book and his advice is unlikely to be helpful.
Manafort got his entry into the campaign from the Trump kids who seemed pretty naive early on,. Stone came with him.
The information about Manafort and Ukraine was news to the Trump people.
I would not credit anything Stone says.
If Mueller indicts Kushner et al and recommends impeachment of Trump, will the Dems and Swamp be ready for the reaction? Will Mueller's finale trigger the Fourth Turning? If so, is that a bad thing?
Well hes like an unguarded weapon, on the one hand he did uncover client no 9, ptoh he brought us Clark paladino and has some sketchy ties like randy credico.
Hardly sleepwalking. More like drawing the enemy into open ground and then shredding him. In just the past week, Trump has done massive damage to the Golden Shower Democrats and the LLRs.
If Mueller is calibrating to position the FBI for the political winds, Trump is expert at starting small fires that become Firestorms
If Trump is going to be cleared, it is in his (and his attorneys) best interest to have been fully supportive of the process.
The process so far has resulted in the Dem artillery landing inside the Dem perimeter. The exposure of Strzok, Page, Weissman, et al -- especially the Mueller team failing to inform Flynn's attorney of Strzok's dismissal -- meets the Giglio precedent where Flynn could either withdraw his guilty plea or Pres. Trump could pardon him. We're not through hearing about Mueller's top men. Top. Men.
Meanwhile the media (CNN and ABC, esp.) are sharting themselves comically and repeatedly in full view miscovering the investigation. They can't help themselves.
We're going to need more popcorn.
Inga leap frogs another John Doe post to continue her bleating "Trump's going down, Mueller close."
I'm sure history will repeat itself when this Mueller shit blows up in her face. She'll continue to wear out the C and V buttons on the next idiot lefty talking point. What a dullard.
Does anyone NOT talk to the press?
"It's awfully quiet out there."
"Too quiet"
Walter Russell Mead and I are on the same wavelength on this one. Here's his tweet:
"I remember Watergate pretty well, and I don't remember anything like this level of journalistic carelessness back then. The constant stream of 'bombshells' that turn into duds is doing much more to damage the media than anything Trump could manage.Walter Russell Mead added,
CNN Communications
Verified account
@CNNPR
CNN's initial reporting of the date on an email sent to members of the Trump campaign about Wikileaks documents, which was confirmed by two sources to CNN, was incorrect. We have updated our story to include the correct date, and present the proper context for the timing of email"
The Mueller investigation is a honeypot trap.
Mueller needs at least a modest victory. Otherwise he will be shunned, vilified and his reputation reduced to ashes.
So he will get a modest victory. A few field goals, maybe.
He is laying a modest groundwork with Flynn. He needs to move slowly and let expectations lower. Then a modest victory will be portrayed as a Great Victory. Because a Great Victory is needed by those who can shun and vilify. And have the means to reduce his reputation to ashes.
He is taking time to give way to another shadow, an indefinite procession of shadows, rouged and powdered in an invisible glass.
I read that once somewhere.
- james james
FBI Clinton Secret Server corruption:
"Gross Negligence" changed to "Extremely Careless" by democrats who voted for her.
OOOO a top corruptocrat thinks the noose is tightening around Trump.
it is! - by a pack of corrupt lying swamp democrats who lie.
Dont kid yourde.f felt served Woodward and bernstein lots of howlers, along with the stuff he swiped from tube grand jury,
My friend, clarice successful defended the San Diego city manager, because the pricutator of the time, kreindler, took so many shortcuts.
Hardly sleepwalking. More like drawing the enemy into open ground and then shredding him. In just the past week, Trump has done massive damage to the Golden Shower Democrats and the LLRs.
At some point, you'd think the Dems would quit the Hillary-driven focus on destruction and begin to actually build something. But that's tough to do when you've alienated half of your natural base.
The Democrats lack a charismatic leader to coalesce behind. So all they have to unite them is Trump-Hatred.
The same media and corruptocrats who lied about Benghazi, Ferguson, O-care, and everything else - they cannot accept that their corrupt money grubbing asshole Hitlery, who was going to create money paths and paybacks ala George Clintonopolis, LOST.
So - we get full swamp creature leftwing fascism. More lies. More deception.
CNN lying about spam mail to create the impression that Don Jr. was in bed with wikileaks, that's not a botched story. That's 100% deception created for consumers like Inga.
I am surprised by the hits the FBI’s reputation has taken, along with the justice department.
Not to mention the MSM and Democrats, plus the LLR’s.
Seems this investigation is actually hurting Trumps enemy’s more than him. Not what I expected.
And while this sideshow goes on, the real work gets done by the Trump administration, barely noticed.
@Inga: Roger Stone is far too dapper to be a spokesman for Trump. I don't think Trump's base actually trusts Stone as much as they tolerate him. Part of Trump's appeal is his sartorial statement. Did anyone ever consider Trump impeccably tailored and dressed?
It is because the Trump team is entirely aware that they have not (politically can not) terminate this farce and tyrannical exercise in unaccountable power that has no underlying authority in the Constitution. That's why they need Congress to get its head out of its ass and do their job -- they are the only ones who can be a check against Mueller's abuse of power.
I will never understand why Trump hasn’t appointed a special prosecutor for Hillary and Comey.
Me neither.
When Trump said he wasn't going to go after Hitlery - big mistake.
I am surprised by the hits the FBI’s reputation has taken, along with the justice department.
Not to mention the MSM and Democrats, plus the LLR’s.
Of course, this is all just happenstance.
NARRATOR: This is not happenstance.
If everyone around Trump gets indicted and Trump pardons them all, it surely cast a dark shadow over the rest of his term. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place, it seems.
The Democrats lack a charismatic leader to coalesce behind. So all they have to unite them is Trump-Hatred.
I think this is a significant point. Who do they have ? Kamala Harris ? She is as nasty as Hillary and has distinct similarity to her.
The others are mostly geriatric.
If everyone around Trump gets indicted and Trump pardons them all,
Inga ? Is that you ?
Donald Trump has stayed one step ahead of the sheriff for decades, and he has done so in a very tough environment. This is not his first time at the rodeo.
If everyone gets indicted by corrupt democrats at the FBI - the same ones who let Hillary off the hook....
Trump has done real estate in New York for forty years,
"First Rodeo" doesn't cover it. He is a tough boss but some of the people who work for him in his business have been with him many years,.
The finance guy started with his father. He's the guy who first cut off Manafort's access to money.
Just my impression but, Mueller is starting to look very bad. Not just Strzok, but now Ohr, and the leaks, and the frankly chickenshit charges he's filed. So it looks to me like Trump's legal team is doing well, unobtrusively.
One thing that TDR has reinforced for me is that those who "must write" opinions - for pay or ego - will say just about anything whether they have any basis for it or not. It's like the sportswriters that predict who will win the Super Bowl from day to day from the beginning of the season. They have no more idea than I do, but they have to fill so many column inches so they say anything that comes to mind. The new "need for clicks" makes this an even sillier project. The more outrageous your statement the better.
The longer the Mueller witch hunt goes on the more ammunition the House and Senate Committees are getting to support the contention that the Democrats ( and their FBI/DOJ cohorts) are, most likely, the villains here.
As someone mentioned above: while all this noise is going on in the MSM the Trump administration continues to fulfill campaign promises.
How many months now has the Mueller investigation been "heating up?"
From Powerline: "Today in Collusion
The NYT again tries to make something of nothing - then admits that is what it is doing!
He had to find a way to get comey out of the way, but there was a small company behind him, mccabe prietap, rybicki, strzok page those are just who we know, then there was Yates and uhr at ministry of love.
Is there some way the corrupt fascist left can jail Trump for doing business or taking in air? Come on - there must be a law in there somewhere!
Hillary was going to make all the insiders rich. That's want corrupt leftists do.
The media didn't get their big Clinton payout- and they want revenge.
Dickin'Bimbos@Home wrote: Is there some way the corrupt fascist left can jail Trump for doing business or taking in air? Come on - there must be a law in there somewhere!
They'd probably object more to what Trump exhales. Isn't there a a law (yet) on how much CO2 humans are allowed to exhale -- a law based on expected height and weight? Betcha they try to nail him on that.
The media didn't get their big Clinton payout- and they want revenge.
The media are just pissed that Trump is actually making them work and compete for a living. No more paid-off lolling about as under Obama.
There is no evidence except for Sarah carter Luke rosiak ChArlie Ross, any of them are working just printing dnc press releases.
I can't help feeling that Trump is winging it here, and the beclowning of the Mueller investigation is more coincidental than planned. He is an expert at winging it, and it most often works out just fine, maybe better than fine, because he seems able to react far faster than his opposition.. Maybe fast enough to be inside their OODA loop at times.
I think that the appointment of a special prosecutor was a gamble. And, he is a gambler, if nothing else. But now that one has been appointed, regardless of its corruption, I think that he pays a price if he shuts it down at this point which is why I think the answer is for the Republican Congress to demand a special prosecutor be appointed to root out the DoJ/FBI corruption unearthed by the Mueller investigation. Interesting to me is how fast things are, all of a sudden, moving. Can't keep track of how many of Mueller's team have been exposed so far as vendictive partisan hacks. 3? 4? 5? Can't keep track, with some sort of Mueller team corruption being exposed most every day now. A lot of data crunching behind that. NSA? Not necessarily, but they are set up for it, like probably no other organization on the planet.
Funny thing thoug is that the Mueller investigation seems to be helping Trump get his agenda enacted, but keeping this opposition from coalescing against him. We are rapidly moving towards tax reform and concealed carry reciprocity. Maybe even a repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate. Massive regulatory overhaul. Moving reasonably quickly on judicial confirmations. Moving our embassy to Jerusalem. Etc. Normally the Dems would have their spokespeople on the nightly news shows pushing their narrative. Instead, it is Mueller, Russia, and sexual harassment 24/7. Everything else seems completely under the radar. Wouldn't be surprised if Chuck Schumer is currently having a meltdown, being so rarely before the cameras. Which may be part in f why Trump's attorney doesn't think that they are sleepwalking.
When Trump said he wasn't going to go after Hitlery - big mistake.
12/9/17, 10:10 AM
Personally I don't regard that as an ironclad commitment, and would be happy for him to change his mind.
That said I think the assault on the Presidency is rooted in the Obama machine. People seem to forget, ignore or deny how rotten he was and is. Shows you the power of learning how to smile convincingly.
Andrew McCarthy was asking yesterday why Trump hasn't ordered the release of the FISA applications, for example. I think the answers here are the same to those that I might give to Stone's queries- Trump has been told by his lawyers and his advisers that such actions might well be the sort of actions Mueller is trying to induce so that he, Mueller, can claim obstruction. I think it is far better to let the Congressional committees do the heavy lifting here and keep the hands off.
I think Trump implied that he wouldn't go after Hillary if she would agree to STFU and go away.
@Oso, @Dicking
How sweet it will be when the Dem torpedoes turn around on Hillary et al. Trump is playing out the guide wire
@Yancey Ward See this video of Jim Jordan of Ohio during the Government Oversight Hearing. He and the Chair see no reason why the Committee can't see the FISA apps. Subpoenas coming?
So far I think Trump has been correct not to go after Hillary. She is slowly being exposed by the various Committees and even, unintentionally, by Mueller. Why give the Dems a crusade when even the friendly press are making Clinton and the DNC look bad.
On Congressional oversight of special counsel ...
Could altar boy Ryan be seeing visions of 25A plums in this festive season? Multiple senses of festive.
"Everything else seems completely under the radar."
Yes the Trump hysteria is keeping all other news out. The Democrats are hysterical about the tax bill but all the attention is on Mueller and his witch hunt.
The funniest things are leaking out, like the tax bill will RAISE takes on those in blue states with over $200 k incomes.
That's the SALT thing and they are freaking out, Jerry Brown is asking God to strike Trump down.
California has opened a new front in its war on Donald Trump — the Vatican, where Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday sought to enlist the Catholic Church in his effort to undermine the president’s climate policies abroad.
Brown, addressing a somber gathering of scientists, politicians and religious leaders here, rebuked Trump’s rejection of mainstream climate science as a “lie within a lie,” urging religious establishments to help “awaken the world” to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The conspicuous repudiation of the president, in this center of Christendom on the eve of this week’s international climate talks in Bonn, Germany, served to underscore Brown’s role as one of the most prominent figures in the anti-Trump resistance.
Meanwhile Jerry's state burns down.
A bit off topic but if you have not done it yet, listen to President Trump's Pensacola speech from last night.
I downloaded the audio off YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBtgAwUPI4 and listened to about half of it on the way home from church this morning.
He is absolute killer at speaking and the crowd loves it. He pointed out some of the bogosity of the "Fake News" this week and the crowd started chanting "Fake, fake, fake..."
He mentioned Crooked Hilary and the crowd started chanting "Lock her up, lock her up..."
He pointed out the 3.5% GDP growth, the 2.2mm new jobs this year, the stock market and the effect on 401Ks, all time low hispanic unemployment, all time high black home ownership, manufacturing job numbers and a lot of other things that get overlooked by the press. They have more important things to cover, donchaknow. Like the fake Deusche Bank, Wilkileak and other stories.
Nope. Not tired of winning yet.
I am looking forward to hearing the rest of it later today.
John Henry
Blogger Humperdink said...
Exhibit A: Trump says Obambi tapped my wires. The media went off the rails. Months later, lo and behold, it is revealed the Obambi administration was surveilling the campaign.
He mentioned that last night too.
The crowd roared
John Henry
Do even the most hard core leftist partisans really believe he whole Russian collusion narrative. I doubt many do.
As was demonstrated with the John Doe, these shams will continue as long as the left believes it provides some kind of political benefit. For now, they believe this story hurts Trump and will find a way to keep it going for years to come. They know the MSM will stand behind them. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it to continue into the 2020 election.
I believe some on the left hope Trump shuts it down. Then they can continue the narrative and don't have to find any actual evidence of wrong doing. This may be what Mueller is angling for.
Meanwhile, somebody tell Hillary she can put the Gideon Bible back in the nightstand.
Roger Stone is a pretty unsavoury character. Unsavoury characters are often the most interesting and Stone is no exception.
Netflix, or maybe Amazon Video, has a documentary about Roger Stone called "Get me Roger Stone" He seems to have been a willing participant though might not have been if he knew how it came out. Very interesting throughout.
Stone, in the video, seems to claim credit for feeding the bogus National Guard/Bush papers to Dan Rather. He seems to have fabricated the obvious counterfeits to bring down Rather. He also weasels his discussion so he doesn't quite say he did it.
John Henry
Blogger Yancey Ward said..."Andrew McCarthy was asking yesterday why Trump hasn't ordered the release of the FISA applications, for example. I think the answers here are the same to those that I might give to Stone's queries- Trump has been told by his lawyers and his advisers that such actions might well be the sort of actions Mueller is trying to induce so that he, Mueller, can claim obstruction. I think it is far better to let the Congressional committees do the heavy lifting here and keep the hands off."
How could releasing the FISA applications be construed as obstruction? I don't see it.
The Get Trump Squad has stumbled! Mueller doesn't like liars who embarass him - particular on his own side.
We need to see those emails between FBI paramours Strzok and Page.
Someone who has seen the truly great movie , Witness For the Prosecution, needs to comment on likely it is that Mueller's prosecution is a device to acquit Trump while the entire Clinton/Obama/Soros cabal is exposed by the probing investigation.
Blogger Oso Negro said..."I will never understand why Trump hasn’t appointed a special prosecutor for Hillary and Comey."
I like Kimberley Strassel's idea better. Trump should appoint an official "whose only job is to ensure Justice Department and FBI compliance with congressional oversight". End the stonewalling.
On Friday The Wall Street Journal published Kimberly Strassel's opinion column "Obstruction of Congress", which includes the following passages:
-----
When Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mr. [Robert "The FBI White-Washer"] Mueller, he stressed that he wanted a probe with "independence from the normal chain of command." Yet the Mueller team is made up of the same commanders who were previously running the Trump show at the Justice Department and the FBI ...
* Andrew Weissman, Mr. Mueller's deputy, is chief of the Justice Department's criminal fraud section and was once FBI general counsel.
* Until Mr. Strzok's demotion, he was the top FBI counterintelligence officer ...
* Michael Dreeben is deputy solicitor general.
* Elizabeth Prelogar, Brandon Van Grack, Kyle Freeny, Adam Jed, Andrew Goldstein -- every one is a highly placed, influential lawyer on loan from the Justice Department.
* Lisa Page -- Mr. Stzok's mistress ... -- was on loan from the FBI general counsel's office.
Does anyone think this crowd intends to investigate Justice Department or FBI misdeeds?
To put it another way, does anyone think they intend to investigate themselves?
Or that they'd investigate their longtime colleagues -- Andrew McCabe or Mr. Ohr or Mr. Strzok?
Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller to Special Counselor -- and Mueller accepted the job -- because both men knew that Mueller was the the one person in the world who is most motivated and able to white-wash the FBI in this situation.
From the beginning, both men knew that the FBI had the Steele dossier had been funded by the Clinton campaign and that the FBI had used the dossier to obtain a FISA warrant to wiretap the Trump campaign.
Mueller's number-one goal was to keep the FBI's central role in that situation secret forever.
Mueller knew from the beginning that the Russian-collusion story was bullshit, but he intended to concoct a plausible yarn about heroic FBI special agents searching for and finding some real crimes. He must convict some scapegoat (someone like Scooter Libby) in order to demonstrate to the public that the FBI's "investigation" of Trump's campaign was valid -- was even heroic.
Rosenstein expects that Mueller will cover up likewise the Justice Department's role in the situation.
"Does anyone think this crowd intends to investigate Justice Department or FBI misdeeds?"
That's why Strassel says Trump needs to facilitate Congress' investigation, through an entirely legitimate means. Just make sure Justice complies with Congressional requests for records.
Although it begs the question: It's Session's department. Why isn't he making sure Justice complies with Congress?
During the recent House questioning of FBI Director Christopher Wray, Representative Louis Gohmert complained that Robert "The FBI White-Washer" Mueller significantly "weakened" the FBI. In particular, Mueller established an up-or-out policy that pushed many experienced employees out of the FBI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH_sH0jPVTg
The following interview of Gohmert about significant political bias of the FBI's leadership is worth watching too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwehIdR9ZMk
The second top goal of Robert "The FBI White-Washer" Mueller is to prevent any punishment of his protégé and BFF "Crazy Comey the Leaker".
Who do you think taught Comey how to leak?
Mueller considers leaking to be an essential tool in managing the FBI.
Mueller is using that same tool in managing his Special Counsel staff. However, Mueller retains for himself the prerogative of managing the staff's leaking.
Apparently, Peter Strzok and his lover were leaking without permission, and so their e-mails were searched and they were kicked off the staff.
Mueller's plausible-denial explanation is that he immediately kicked them off his staff because he was outraged that they were writing snide comments about Trump in their private e-mails. Of course, Mueller's favored journalists publish Mueller's preposterous explanation as if it really were plausible.
Team Mueller doesn't have anything to do with Russia, it's to criminalize the Trump transition to power by the Swamp. It's to cover Obama's FBI politicization of a FISA warrant based on Clinton OPO research and the FBI's illegal politics in spying. We are truly living in a Banana Republic.
The only people in the FBI higher ranks not Clinton - Obama operatives are Sessions and the new Director.
Cobb is sandbagging, which is the right thing to do in response to the absolute nothing the investigation has so far turned up.
Even Inga couldn't object to a Justice Department official with the sole charge of responding promptly to Congressional investigators. Right?
I'm sure Adam Schiff would be supportive.
Original Mike,
What if Mueller has already made the applications and the associated material part of the grand jury presentation?
I agree that to argue such things are obstruction is nonsense, but that doesn't mean the Democrats wouldn't run with it. I think we are into full process crime mode here.
Yesterday the Liberty Unyielding website published an article titled "Russian organized crime and the mysteries of the Mueller-Democrats-Russia-Trump ‘thing’", written by J. E. Dyer, a retired Navy Intelligence officer.
Dyer provides details about how Christopher Steele provided information about his dossier to the FBI in June 2016. Steele already knew, since 2010, an FBI official who was stationed in Rome.
Steele felt frustrated that Fusion GPS seemed to be ineffectual in using the dossier that Steele had been writing. Therefore Steele traveled to Rome to talk with his previous FBI contact.
According to Dyer, there is a "strong possibility" that the FBI official was Michael Gaeta, who from 2014 through October 2016, Gaeta was the Assistant Legal Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Rome.
Steele and Gaeta knew each other since 2010 because then they both were key figures in an investigation of the FIFA soccer association.
The Guardian has reported:
[quote]
... the FBI was receiving disturbing warnings [in June 2016] from Steele.
At this point, Steele’s Fusion material was unpublished. Whatever the outcome of the election, it raised grave questions about Russian interference and the US democratic process. There was, Steele felt, overwhelming public interest in passing his findings to US investigators. The US’s multiple intelligence agencies had the resources to prove or disprove his discoveries. He realised that these allegations were, as he put it to a friend, a “radioactive hot potato”. He anticipated a hesitant response, at least at first.
In June, Steele flew to Rome to brief the FBI contact with whom he had co-operated over Fifa. His information started to reach the bureau in Washington. It had certainly arrived by the time of the Democratic National Convention in late July, when WikiLeaks first began releasing hacked Democratic emails. It was at this moment that FBI director James Comey opened a formal investigation into Trump-Russia.
[end quote]
So, it appears that beginning in June 2016, Steele communicated regularly with the FBI Headquarters in Washington DC through Gaeta, the FBI's Assistant Legal Attaché in Rome.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/12/08/russian-organized-crime-mysteries-mueller-democrats-russia-trump-thing/
"I agree that to argue such things are obstruction is nonsense, but that doesn't mean the Democrats wouldn't run with it."
The Democrats will run with anything. Don't give them a heckler's veto.
Following up my comment at 3:46 PM
J.E. Dyer's article indicates that in June 2016 Christopher Steele began providing information to the FBI through Michael Gaeta, the FBI's Assistant Legal Attaché at the U.S. embassy in Rome.
Shortly after Steele' deliveries of information began, the FBI applied for a FISA warrant to wiretap Donald Trump's associates.
Dyer's article suggests that another consideration in Steele's investigation was organized-crime gangs based in Russia and Ukraine.
Dyer develops at length the idea that Steele, Gaeta, Fusion's owner Glenn Simpson and several other figures had long been associated with each other in various investigations of those gangs.
These investigators apparently are trying to develop a case that those gangs exert some influence on Trump.
Following up my comment at 3:58 PM
Having thought some more about J.E. Dyer's article, I speculate that Fusion GPS was developing two major angles for Hillary Clinton to attack Donald Trump.
-----
1) Counter-Intelligence
This was Clinton's suspicion that the Russian intelligence service were controlling Donald Trump. For example, that service had photographed Trump with prostitutes. Along this same line, the service was using its computer experts to meddle in the Internet to help Trump.
2) Organized Crime
This was Clinton's suspicion that Trump had earned a lot of money through his collaboration with Russian organized-crime groups in various investment schemes.
-----
The US public has become somewhat more informed about the counter-intelligence angle. Trump allegedly was filmed paying Russian prostitutes to piss on Obama's hotel bed. Peter Strzok the counter-intelligence genius has been manipulating many activities, and so forth.
It seems that Christopher Steele was able to develop a more complete dossier on the counter-intelligence angle, and so it has more significantly affected events.
-----
On the other hand, Steele's separate dossier on the organized-crime angle remained insufficiently developed or has remained secret.
The recent information of the Justice Department's Bruce Ohr seems (to me) to be related to this organized-crime dossier. Ohr was demoted because he met with Fusion owner Glenn Simpson in late November 2016 (at least that's the reason leaked by Robert "The FBI White-Washer" Mueller to his favored journalists).
-----
In June 2016, Steele began meeting with (apparently) Michael Gaeta, the FBI's liaison at the Rome embassy. According to Dyer's article, Steele's (and Simpson's) relationship with Gaeta was based primarily on their mutual efforts to investigate Russia's organized-crime gangs.
Why was Steele dealing with the FBI so indirectly? Dyer's article provides a possible explanation:
[quote]
The US’s multiple intelligence agencies had the resources to prove or disprove his [Steele's] discoveries.
[end quote]
In other words, Gaeta used FBI resources -- off the record -- to "prove or disprove" various elements of Steele's dossier on organized crime's influence on Trump.
-----
Essentially, Steele turned the FBI and Justice Department into his collaborators in developing opposition research for Clinton about Trump.
For Steele's counter-intelligence dossier, the FBI's Peter Strzok applied for FISA warrants to wiretap Trump's associates in order to develop Steele's counter-intelligence angle.
For Steele's organized-crime dossier, Peter Ohr conducted selected organized-crime experts to develop Steele's organized-crime dossier.
Stone is an inveterate liar. You're better off ignoring every word unless you know his angle and can correct for it.
I guess people are upset that Trump refuses to follow their preferred story line. He's very good at counterattacking; that's something that's been on display since February of last year.
I think Humperdink is right in evoking Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-dope strategy, but I'd like to expand that. Some time back, I saw a YouTube of Ali when he was still Cassius Clay say to the interviewer how much he admired Gorgeous George at one of GG's wrestling matches. It's a classic. Ali imitates Gorgeous George fawning over his own looks, "...Look at my pretty hair, I'm so beautiful. I'm the greatest..." Then, Ali points to the audience and says, "Look at this crowd! They all came to boo Gorgeous George. Listen to them, Boo! Boo!"
I also saw a video of Bob Dylan in England, I think, and it was when he switched from acoustic folk back up to rock and roll electric guitars. The audience booed Dylan and he just continued to play and sing with a smirk on his face. Dylan in his book Chronicles Vol. One also said he was a great admirer of Gorgeous George.
In the 1940's, Gorgeous George was outrageous. He wore his hair long and curly. The trainers sprayed him with Chanel No. 5. The robes he wore into the ring were pink, lavender, and other feminine colors. He offended the men of his generation so deeply, that they paid to come hoping to see him lose. The point was to fill the house which he did.
The difference between Gorgeous George and Trump is that he has discovered the ways to rile the Washington Establishment and the Democrat Party Left. He really riles them: "How DARE this vulgarian run President. Every time I see him and that Presidential Seal, it makes me want to throw up. And imagine, those nasty deplorable and irredeemables who voted for this clown. I can't sleep at night....."
And, the more his enemies whinge, the bigger his crowds get.
And to continue, I think Trump has caused the Washington establishment including the FBI and Justice Department to overplay their hand.
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