August 10, 2018

"What exactly might an 'insurance policy' against Donald Trump look like? He would have to be marginalized at every turn."

"Strategies would encompass politics, the courts, opposition research and the media. He’d have to become mired in lawsuits, distracted by allegations, riddled with calls for impeachment, hounded by investigations. His election must be portrayed as the illegitimate result of a criminal or un-American conspiracy.... Once Trump is in office, a good insurance policy would call for neutralizing the advisers seen as most threatening, including his attorney general. The reigning FBI director could privately send the implicit message that as long as Trump minds his own business, he won’t be named as a target. When the president asks the FBI director to lift the cloud and tell the public their president isn’t under investigation, the FBI director could demur and allow a storm of innuendo to build. Idle chatter benefits the plot. There would be rampant media leaks, both true and false, but none of them would benefit Trump. All would be well unless the president removes the FBI director. Then, a rider on the insurance policy would kick in...."

Writes Sharyl Attkisson at The Hill.

Also at The Hill: "The handwritten notes exposing what Fusion GPS told DOJ about Trump," by John Solomon.
... Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson — paid by Hillary Clinton’s campaign to find dirt on her GOP rival — met secretly with [then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr], right after Trump won the 2016 election. And all of it was captured in the official’s handwritten notes — a contemporaneous record that intelligence professionals tell me exposes the flaws plaguing the early Russia collusion case....

Early on, Ohr’s notes detail, the conversation focused on a theory apparently offered by Simpson that revolving Trump team members — former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, followed by informal adviser Carter Page, then personal lawyer Michael Cohen — forged a secret channel with Moscow to hijack the election. All three men long have been cited in the Russia investigation; each denies any coordination with Russia. But Ohr’s notes are the first to quote Simpson as suggesting the three essentially were shark-tooth spies who replaced each other in a secret plot....

The Ohr interview and many other now-public actions in the Russia collusion case are “breaking every protocol at the fundamental level of intelligence gathering,” one highly decorated intelligence professional told me....

44 comments:

AustinRoth said...

Will Facebook/YouTube/Twitter/etc now ban her for doubleplusungood thoughts?

tim maguire said...

That describes what's happening, but the scenario would be more impressive if she wrote this 18 months ago. Now it's just a more detailed version of the silly "If he actually wanted to [insert nefarious act], what would he do differently?"

FIDO said...

This is ridiculous. Show the evidence or shut up and join the 'Bush shot down the Twin Towers' bunch of wing nuts.

gilbar said...

pretty sure she just DID show the evidence

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I probably wouldn't bother reading the book.

Matt Sablan said...

Carter Page sacrificed other Russian spies by working with the government but that couldn't fool Top Men.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Hey look, another leftist screaming "shut up!"

rhhardin said...

Whatever happens has to generate news ratings or the MSM won't go along.

mccullough said...

I’d say getting Trump to install Sessions as AG was an insurance policy. That dipshit has been useless to Trump.

gilbar said...

Sessions DID manage to turn a reliable Red Senate seat BLUE: SO, there's THAT!

Ralph L said...

The insurance policy was enough dirt on Trump to hold over his head so they wouldn't lose their jobs or be investigated. It's Hoover job security.

mccullough said...

Comey, McCabe, and Strzok are premiums paid for the insurance policy. All are now disgraced.

Dave Begley said...

So who are the conspiracy nuts now? Manafort, Page and Cohen are ALL Russian agents?

How stupid is this Ohr guy?

Rory said...

The news media, the entertainers, the bureaucracy, the social media, the race lobby, the schools and universities have all taken their turn. I think that the financial community will be next, in advance of the election. Hold onto your hats.

Dave Begley said...

If Comey, McCabe and Strzok et alia aren't investigated by a grand jury then we have bigger problems than I think.

Sebastian said...

"The Ohr interview and many other now-public actions in the Russia collusion case are “breaking every protocol at the fundamental level of intelligence gathering,” one highly decorated intelligence professional told me"

That's because it had nothing to do with "intelligence gathering." Instead, it was a case of intelligence fabrication to take down a candidate and then a president.

The Simpson-Ohr meeting is useful evidence of the link between Hill's machine and the Deep State. Of course, we already knew of Ohr's wife, who, to my knowledge, has not been fully investigated.

I don't think we quite know yet how long and how intensely the Hill oppo team and the Deep State colluded with each other and with all the foreigners involved.

Perhaps it was all fully coordinated from the outset, both the Fusion/Steele line of attack and the CIA/FBI spy-running line of attack. The key point would be: who decided to hire Steele, and how? Did Brennan get it started, perhaps with Podesta?

Critter said...

While Mueller and gang chase ghosts, the truth is slowly emerging through the efforts of a few. There is no such thing as a perfect scheme. Perhaps there could have been a better scheme if better principals were behind it, but this one just has a cast of clowns.

Amadeus 48 said...

This is what sleezocracy looks like. I am sure that there are lots of people in the MSM and US higher education that think this is good government. There may even be some commenters here that think so.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I hope we learn the truth about these people and their plot to destroy Trump. It's been frustrating to watch the two extremely different approaches to "foreign contact" that has all the appearance of being politically driven.

Mike Sylwester said...

I doubt that we ever will see any proof that any official in the DOJ, FBI or Special Counsel staff ever even asked Christopher Steele to identify his sources.

For example, exactly who told Steele about the prostitutes pissing on the hotel bed? What were the names of those sources?

Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller will issue a report that says that the FBI acted reasonably. However, it was not reasonable for the FBI to not even ask Steele to name his sources.

This is the witch-hunt aspect of the RussiaGate hoax. In the Salem witch-hunt, a few girls said they saw spectrums that nobody else could perceive. In the RussiaGate witch-hun, one British dude, Christopher Steele, says he sees super-secret sources that nobody else can perceive or even ask about.

Thus, supposedly reasonable FBI officials have conducted a witch-hunt against Donald Trump that has thoroughly poisoned our country's politics for a long time.

Mike Sylwester said...

If the FBI leadership actually had been reasonable, then it would have decided that Steele dossier would not be used in any FISA application as long as Christoper Steele refused to name his sources.

Steele did not have to name his sources publicly. Rather, he had to name his sources only to the FBI, which would keep the sources' identities secret.

That sounds reasonable to me -- and probably to most people.

However, the FBI leadership decided that it was reasonable to investigate the campaign staff of the Republican Party's leading contender and then candidate based on information that Steele claimed he received from secret sources whom he could not name even to the FBI.

This decision will be portrayed as "reasonable" in the report that will be issued eventually by Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller.

PhilD said...

What is described here looks very much like a Coup D'Etat.

Mike Sylwester said...

Who signed the FISA application that was based on information from super-secret sources that Christopher Steele, a British dude, did not identify to the FBI?

The first such FISA application was signed by "Crazy Comey the Leaker", a close personal friend of Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller, who is supposed to inform the public honestly and authoritatively about this affair.

Mueller will inform the public that his pal Comey signed the FISA application reasonably. That will be a major point of Mueller's report.

The FBI did not want to offend Steele by asking Steele to name his sources to the FBI. For the FBI to even ask Steele would have been intrusive, would have been impolite. After all, Steele was just trying to help the USA, so the FBI should just accept his information gratefully without, so to speak, looking the horse in the mouth.

Mike Sylwester said...

Think back to the outrage that was expressed when, during the 2016 election race, Donald Trump remarked that he might not accept the election results.

Outrage, outrage, outrage, outrage, outrage !!!!!!

In a debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, moderator Chris Wallace put the question only to Trump. Wallace did not ask Clinton whether she too would accept the election results.

I never will forget that about Wallace.

Bruce Hayden said...

Things are starting to get very interesting. We are less than 3 months to the midterm elections. Soros may have just bought himself that Congressional seat in Ohio, while former ADAG Bruce Ohr's role in the DoJ/FBI attacks on Trump just got outed in leaks. A 757 was apparently loaded up yesterday or so in Little Rock with what appears to be thousands of boxes of evidence, and shipped to DC. The supposition is that the Clinton Foundation investigation is being taken away from the McCabe protege running it there, since she has, apparently, been running interference for the Clintons, instead Of trying to get indictments. The DoJ IG is readying its next report on DoJ malfeasance, this time on FISA abuse, as the pressure builds for Trump to fully declassify the FISA applications. Sinophile Sen Feinstein, whose husband made a fortune on the Chinese, has just been outed as having had a Chinese spy on her staff for over 20 years. Which means that high ranking Dems have been shown to have had Chinese, Pakistani and maybe even Russian spies on their staffs. Mueller's staff of Dem operative prosecutors is finally in court for the first time trying a case, against Manafort, for crimes committed long before he went to work briefly for the Trump campaign. Trump's attorney, Guliani, has essentially drawn a line that Mueller is unlikely to cross. And with a decent chance that the House flips this Nov, Chairman Nunes finally seems to be calming down, likely thanks to finally getting cooperation from the DoJ. And the Tech giants have started to actively and openly deplatform Republicans and the right.

Both sides appear to be manipulating and leaking as fast as they can. The initiative seems to have finally shifted to Trump and the Republicans. But will that be enough to overcome the massive spending advantage the Dems have, much of it in gray and black campaign funding,, esp with the active and open deplatforming being done to their advantage?

Bruce Hayden said...

"Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller will issue a report that says that the FBI acted reasonably...."

Except that that isn't really his mandate. And no one really cares what he says there. Rather, the DoJ IG is readying their report on FISA abuse, and multiple Congressional committees have being doing their best at oversight, and may finally be getting help from the DoJ, or at least less pushback and obstruction.

narayanan said...

I would suggest as follows ...

Steele suggests he has "sources" for the "Kompromat' on Trump.

FBI does not ask him to reveal.

FBI 'reasons" that by bugging Trump campaign they can find out the Russians with "Kompromat' and fill gap in their info.

After Trump moves his campaign to NJ - FBI are not able to wire-tap, so need new tactic but same goal - fill gap in their info.

Mueller is extension of tactic - fill gap in info.

"reasonable" but bass ackward
.

Yancey Ward said...

Mike Sylvester makes the point I did a few weeks back about the Steele's sources. Normally, such an informant would have his veracity verified before going to court, but curiously in this case, no one seems to have even asked Steele to identify the informants, and this is very strange unless the people in the FBI working with Steele knew not to ask the question.

Ray - SoCal said...

Oleg Deripaska - Russian oligarch that seemed to have a relationship with a bunch of the anti trump players, including Steele.

What a soap opera!

Mike Sylwester said...

Yancey Ward at 9:38 AM
no one seems to have even asked Steele to identify the informants, and this is very strange unless the people in the FBI working with Steele knew not to ask the question.

Steele's sources were oddballs like Sergei Millian.

Therefore it was better for everyone involved if the FBI did not even ask Steele to identify his sources.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

What if the UK gov worked hand-in-hand w/ the Obama admin to sabotage the 2016 election?
Data collection.Voice.Video.Bugging.
Creation of fake intel dossier using ex spy.
Co-sponsor insurance policy re: POTUS election.

could something like this have any merit?

narciso said...

Exactly source a seems to be Waldman since he had contacts with both the foreign ministry and deripashas and later assuage, wait how can that be, source d is Milan, a Peter litre like scrounger who was as connected to McCain and the head of the Latin builders as to trump,

narciso said...

The others are more ambiguous but it certainly isn't sechin's man drink in.
About now, sechin wished he had given some of his business to page.

rcocean said...

I agree. The real insurance policy has been "Sleepy jeff sessions".

He's helped the "resistance" every step of the way.

narciso said...

I don't think So, but even among his staff there are few who are willing to push the trump agenda.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Deep State Insurance

"You're In Good Hands"

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Adam Waldman was lawyer for both Oleg Deripaska and Christopher Steele (who was so desperate to get Oleg a visa), and it is Adam Waldman to whom Sen Mark Warner (D-VA), ranking member of Senate Special Cttee on Intel, went when he wanted to get in touch with Christopher Steele....

Senate Select Cttee is kind of a mess--Dianne Feinstein's Chinese connections are all coming out, her former aide Dan Jones hired Christopher Steele after the election (http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/27/confirmed-former-feinstein-staffer-hired-fusion-gps-christopher-steele/), and Senate Select Cttee former security director James Wolfe, arrested in June for lying to the FBI about press contacts, seems to have leaked to lady friend Ali Watkins of New York Times the unredacted Carter Page FISA application.

Looks like a very reticulated insurance policy, but it all depended on having a victim who wouldn't fight back. Ha!

Original Mike said...

Why are we assuming Steele had sources? I’ve suspected all along he just made shit up.

Ken B said...

She is post hoc-ing.

But that rotating spies theory? That's hilarious. That's really the best way to do spying: get as many people knowing all the details as possible!

PhilD said...

It would help to recapitulate what 'service' Putin is supposed to have done in all this 'collusion' BS.

The only thing I can think of is the supposed hacking of the DNC server and bringing the info in the open exposing the dirty tricks of the Democrats. And that is a dead end since neither the FBI or the DNC found it necessary to investigate for legal purposes the supposed hack of the server (the DNC probably had very good reasons for that).

So all this collusion BS is build on nothing anyway.

Bruce Hayden said...

"Why are we assuming Steele had sources? I’ve suspected all along he just made shit up."

Some may have come from illegal contractor FISA Title VII NSA database searches, shutdown by Adm Rogers about the tie that Steele and Nellie Our were hired by Fusion GPS. Best explanation I have seen of having the wrong Michael Cohen going to Prague - that information almost had to come from a name search of an ICE database, which is almost assuredly searchable with FISA Title VII database searching (it is really important that counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigators know who is in the country,and where, to the extent possible).

gadfly said...

Sharyl Attkisson starts out with this:

Let’s begin in the realm of the fanciful. What exactly might an “insurance policy” against Donald Trump look like?

Not a very serious beginning to to a shallow attempt to imagine something that never existed. Here the WSJ explains exactly what Strzok and Page's "insurance policy' was.

An FBI agent’s reference to “an insurance policy” in a much-debated text message was meant to convey that the bureau needed to aggressively investigate allegations of collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, according to people familiar with his account.
The agent didn’t intend to suggest a secret plan to harm the candidate but rather address a colleague who believed the Federal Bureau of Investigation could take its time because Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was certain to win the election, the people said.


As Frank Sinatra sang:

Imagination is crazy, your whole perspective gets hazy
Starts you asking a daisy "What to do, what to do?"

Original Mike said...

gadfly - I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in looking at.