November 26, 2019

"Simpson and Fritsch acknowledge that several of Steele’s most sensational allegations remain unproven and that others were almost surely wrong... [but] 'a spy whose sources get it 70 percent right is considered to be one of the best'..."

"and... while reporters focussed on the most salacious details, they 'tended to miss the central message,' about which they say Steele was largely correct. They note that, in his first report, in June, 2016, Steele warned that Russian election meddling was 'endorsed by Putin' and 'supported and directed' by him to 'sow discord and disunity with the United States itself but more especially within the Transatlantic alliance'—six months before the U.S. intelligence community collectively embraced the same conclusion. Steele also was right, they argue, that 'Putin wasn’t merely seeking to create a crisis of confidence in democratic elections. He was actively pulling strings to destroy Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump,' an assessment the U.S. intelligence community also came to accept. And they note that, as of September, 2019, U.S. officials confirmed that the C.I.A. had 'a human source inside the Russian government during the campaign, who provided information that dovetailed with Steele’s reporting about Russia’s objective of electing Trump and Putin’s direct involvement in the operation.'"

From "The Inside Story of Christopher Steele’s Trump Dossier/In a new book, the founders of the firm that compiled it defend their work" by Jane Mayer (in The New Yorker).

About those "sensational allegations":

Steele’s first report found that Russia had tried to cultivate Trump by dangling business ventures and had been accumulating blackmail material, including what later came to be known as the pee tape—ostensibly a recording showing prostitutes entertaining Trump by urinating on a hotel bed, at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton, in which the Obamas had previously slept....

Despite the fact that the fabled pee tape has never surfaced and Trump immediately denied its existence, Simpson and Fritsch write that Steele remains confident that his reports are neither a fabrication nor the “hoax” of Trump’s denunciations. Trump’s defenders have claimed that Steele fell prey to Russian disinformation, and so, therefore, it is he, not Trump, who has been a useful idiot for the Russians. But Steele tells the authors, “These people simply have no idea what they’re talking about.”

214 comments:

1 – 200 of 214   Newer›   Newest»
Phil 314 said...

Coming full circle? Let’s do the Russian thing again.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Things I'm not seeing:

1. Whether Trump had anything to do with it. It's not his fault the Russians wanted him to win. I'm sure the Russians would prefer Bernie Sanders to, say, Joe Biden. Does this mean Bernie is a Russian Stooge?

or

2. Whether Russian meddling decided the election. It was a close election, but I'm not seeing any proof the inept social media ads caused any of the critical votes to go to Trump. Trump spending on social media dwarfed Russian spending, and it was better targeted.

Hillary's email scandal was self-inflicted, and the DNC hack revealed that Bernie Sanders had been cheated. Both are events the public had a right to know, and were both choices made by... Hillary Clinton. She did far more to lose the election than the Russians.

Kevin said...

Just to be clear: This week Trump is the Russian spy.

And next week he’s the white supremacist?

Calendars synced.

gilbar said...

He was actively pulling strings to destroy Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump,' an assessment the U.S. intelligence community also came to pretend was true, in order to further their coup against the leader of the United States
fify!

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Also, what about all the Chinese money which poured into the various Clinton campaigns? Doesn't that count? The Dems have a persistent problem with overseas fundraising.

Not to be totally partisan, but there's a disconnect.

gilbar said...

Kevin said...
Just to be clear: This week Trump is the Russian spy.
And next week he’s the white supremacist?


Kevin, Kevin, Kevin!
Just like Shimmer is a floor wax AND a delicious desert topping,
So can Donald Trump be a white supremacist Russian spy!
Embrace The Power, of the word AND

David Begley said...

I don’t believe a word written by Jane Mayer.

Regarding the Moscow hotel tape, I want to see the invoice paying for the replacement bed.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"... an assessment the U.S. intelligence community also came to accept."

These people are experts, not sitting in the basement in their pajamas, so you all had better just shut the hell up and listen to what people say they say.

Democracy is too important to leave to you people, on that we call all surely agree.

Krumhorn said...

At this point, it’s hard to accept anything on its face that comes from the intelligence community. It is now just another organ playing the Resistance By Any Means Necessary fantasy and variations.

- Krumhorn

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Where the hell did the skepticism about the motives of the CIA go? We trust these people now? I thought the intelligence agencies were spying on us illegally and torturing prisoners. Now they are the arbiters of truth? Isn't anyone skeptical that a lot of "top experts" are Democratic political appointees?

Temujin said...

I know I denigrate the fine profession of Journalism! on a daily basis. But there is a special level of disgust when it comes to Jane Mayer. She's a hack. I don't use that work loosely. She's earned it. There is nothing that comes through her tiny brain that is not crammed full of hate for those who are on the other side of her mentality, that is not half-fiction, mixed with slanted views. This is not new. This has been Jane Mayer for years. She should get on her knees daily and thank Gaia for the New Yorker.

I was going to read the article until I saw who wrote it.

By the way, if the Russians were working so hard to destroy Hillary, not one person in the giant media complex we get our news from was apparently getting the word. Maybe we got our news from Russian faux blogs like Althouse.

Jane Mayer. Journalism!

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

No mention of Ukraine and the 'servers' - must be fake news.

Sally327 said...

The Russians know that there wouldn't be any reporting the other way, to spin a story that Putin preferred Hillary wouldn't go anywhere because the American press would never run with that. If sowing mistrust and paranoia is your goal, if you are looking to undermine faith in the system, the better plan would be to push a narrative that Trump is who the Russians wanted, that they were meddling intentionally for his benefit. Because the American press WOULD run that story, over and over, as we've seen.

Sydney said...

But Steele tells the authors, “These people simply have no idea what they’re talking about.”
Well,that settles it!

Bob Boyd said...

Anyone actively pulling strings to destroy Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump can't be all bad.

Temujin said...

With any luck, Glenn Simpson will be able to 'defend his work' in front of US attorney John Durham.

Wilbur said...

The stupidest thing about this whole stupid thing is that the efficacy Facebook ads is completely unexamined. Can anyone identify a single vote - even one - that was swayed by the Russian-placed ads? Even one?

ARM: do really expect Hillary's crimes to be brought up by Jane Mayer? Try to focus.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Jane Mayer huh? That's the best they could do to try to resurrect the reputation of Fusion GPS and Steele.

So they are now forced to retreat all the way back to saying the Russians meddled in favor of Trump. Big fucking whoop-de-doo. And some in the IC community agreed. Remember only the Comey led FBI and Brennan infiltrated CIA reached that conclusion. They had to assume the ads favoring BLM ads were designed to support Trump.

The NSA would only go as far as saying the Russians meddled to undermine our institutions.

Even the Saint Dr. Fiona Hill just testified the Russians meddled to undermine our institutions. (Is she a real doctor or another Blasey-Ford / Vindman credentials freak?)

Anyway I'm sure those Jesus arm wrestling the devil FB ads really paid off for the Russians.

Wilbur said...

Sorry, that's "efficay of the Facebook ads". I'll try to focus.

William said...

Wow! The Russians meddled in a U.S. election. Who'da thought? Pul-eeze.

daskol said...

Simpson and Fritsch: doing work so wet and dirty, even the IC won't touch it. These are the information launderers, and they do it for money and power. Interesting life, but lying scum.

Shouting Thomas said...

The U.S. and Russia (particularly in its U.S.S.R. incarnation) have been routinely “meddling” in one another’s elections and internal politics since 1917, and probably before, too.

Birches said...

I'm reading The Plot Against the President by Lee Smith right now. Glenn Simpson is an evil man. Those guys have destroyed more lives than just Michael Flynn. Where do you think all of those Joe Paterno-like allegations came from everytime Jordan did something positive for Trump?

They're trying to rehabilitate themselves because Nunes exposed them for what they are.

Birches said...

I cannot believe that anyone in 2019 would be saying with a straight face that the Dossier is largely accurate. Our Coastal Media Elite is delusional.

Quayle said...

Have some compassion on the poor writer. She desperately needs clicks to keep a roof over her head. With the advent of the internet and HD phone cameras, Journalism is now a lonely walk across the frozen tundra unless some content owner or narration spinner invites you in from the cold and gives you something warm to eat. (But you are now a guest in their house so you better be polite.)

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

GOP Sen. John Kennedy: ‘I Was Wrong’ to Say Ukraine May Have Hacked DNC Server

Ron Winkleheimer said...

So, impeachment isn't going anywhere then?

stevew said...

There is a group of people, quite large, that doesn't care that Russia, and Putin, meddled in the 2016 election. Unless, of course, Trump is implicated and complicit. Why? Because most people know that this meddling had absolutely zero effect on the outcome of the 2016 election.

Why is this puff piece for Steele and the dossier written and published now? Impeachment failure. They are just so disappointed.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

The drive to assure anti-Trump partisans that his overwhelming win in 2020 is not legitimate continues.

daskol said...

Maybe this puff piece is also battlefield prep in defense of Simpson and Fritsch. I hope, anyway, that their private intelligence organization, engaged to do the dirty work so dirty that our IC couldn't get allied intelligence to do it, gets some Durham attention soon.

AllenS said...

This whole idea that Russia wanted Trump to win is ridiculous. If anything, they wanted Clinton to win, and now Biden, for the simple fact that both can be bought.

tim in vermont said...

Anybody pushing the story that Putin preferred Trump needs to account for the Fiona Hill testimony that she personally heard Putin say that "American fracking was a threat to Russia’s interests.” You know, things like why it would be better for Putin if he had less money to fund his military. Things like that.

I am sure they wanted to “give Clinton the business” as the saying goes, but they were probably as shocked as anybody that Trump actually won.

I keep pointing out on Twitter that Ukraine interfered by leaking the “black ledger” and the reply is that Manafort was guilty, to which I reply “the emails were all authentic too.” Personally, I don’t care about foreigners providing us true information, either way, it’s just that we spent two years perseverating on it as a nation. But it’s Fen’s law, liberals don’t really care about what they say they care about.

Amadeus 48 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

Doesn’t matter if any particular person says they were wrong. What matters is Trump’s state of mind, and there was plenty of reporting that the server that was supposedly used to hack the DNC server was in Ukraine, and for that reason alone, Trump was justified in trying to get to the bottom of it. Whether it was true in the end or not. Unlike Democrats, most people don’t decide the outcome of an investigation before undertaking it.

ARM’s nonsense notwithstanding.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

A "real life James Bond" who thought there was a Russian consulate in Miami. The Russian troll farm was a joke in the context of social media, millions of hits, etc., whether something that flashes on your screen causes you to do anything. The troll farm was in favour of disrupting the election, and undermining the front runner or president-elect; they changed from pro-Trump to anti-Trump. Where else do you find the evil Putin influence? Hacking e-mails? Hasn't been proven by these clowns, who are obviously willing to sacrifice the public good for personal and partisan gain. They are nowhere near 70%.

American intelligence screwed up Trump-Russia, and at about the same time, their allies in British intelligence screwed up the alleged attempted assassination of the Skripals--who are hale and hearty today. No Western intelligence agency has accurately predicted anything about Russia for a long time. Steele was forced out of Russia for his screw ups, and hasn't been there for decades.

elkh1 said...

while reporters focused on the most salacious details, they 'tended to miss the central message,' about which they say Steele was largely correct

In other word: fake but accurate

Amadeus 48 said...

Wow. That sure is convincing.

Shorter Fritsch and Simpson: We hate Trump. We believe without evidence that all this stuff the Russians fed to us is true.

Shorter Mayer: I hate Trump. I believe without evidence Fritsch and Simpson.

Shorter Amadeus 48: I believe somebody is kidding me without evidence.

Swede said...

Second verse, same as the first.

Trump's going to be president forever, isn't he?

Blessed in his enemies.

tim in vermont said...

Things would be a lot clearer if the DNC didn’t hide their servers from law enforcement, and they make claims against Trump based on stuff they won’t allow to be known.

Captain BillyBob said...

“a spy whose sources get it 70 percent right is considered to be one of the best,”
Close enough for government work!

Shouting Thomas said...

Putin, the horrifying new Ivan the Terrible, doesn't make any sense.

Sure, the new Russia is run by a gangster oligarchy and its elections are a farce. Putin has revived the Tsarist tradition of aligning the government with the Orthodox Church.

New Russia is a extraordinary improvement over the old, genocidal, insane Soviet Union that the leftists loved and wanted to emulate in the U.S.

Rumpletweezer said...

Russia depends on oil for a lot of its economy. Donald Trump was expected to go all in on drilling, pipelines, and fracking. And people believe that Putin wanted Trump elected. Sorry, I can't wrap my head around this.

rehajm said...

A big fluffy word cloud to hang over the Thanksgiving table.

Impeachment for whatever the other thing is must be polling very poorly.

MartyH said...

Timeline this:

"…in his first report, in June, 2016, Steele warned that Russian election meddling was 'endorsed by Putin' and 'supported and directed' by him to 'sow discord and disunity with the United States itself but more especially within the Transatlantic alliance'—six months before the U.S. intelligence community collectively embraced the same conclusion."

June 2016 + six months = December 2016. After Trump's victory. The intelligence community is either incompetent for not spotting the interference when one lonely DNC operative could; or using motivated reasoning to overturn an election. "If it wasn't for those meddling Russians..."

rehajm said...

What do the experts say about journalists who focus 100 percent on the 30 percent spies completely make up?

Michael K said...

Jane Mayer. No thanks.

ARM, the Ukraine thing didn't work out like Jane Fonda's first marriage in "On Golden Pond."

Back to Russia but now Schiff is going to "talk to constituents and colleagues" about whether to bail out of impeachment.

Sebastian said...

"an assessment the U.S. intelligence community also came to accept"

"a fabricated smear John Brennan eagerly promoted"

FIFY

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Glenn Greenwald: Anyone who criticizes a leading Democrat is now likely to be accused of being in the pay of Russia, particularly on CNN and MSNBC. This truly is a new McCarthyism. The CIA and FBI enjoyed the old McCarthyism, so they probably think they'll enjoy the new one as well.
https://theintercept.com/2018/07/08/msnbc-does-not-merely-permit-fabrications-against-democratic-party-critics-it-encourages-and-rewards-them/

Rory said...

"Hillary's email scandal was self-inflicted, and the DNC hack revealed that Bernie Sanders had been cheated. Both are events the public had a right to know, and were both choices made by... Hillary Clinton"

Along with the decision by the Clinton campaign and the DNC to use their media allies to pump Trump as a credible candidate.

chuck said...

Sad article in a decayed publication. Tennessee Williams could have written this play.

Browndog said...

John Lynch said...

Where the hell did the skepticism about the motives of the CIA go? We trust these people now? I thought the intelligence agencies were spying on us illegally and torturing prisoners. Now they are the arbiters of truth? Isn't anyone skeptical that a lot of "top experts" are Democratic political appointees?


The CIA uses private contractors, almost exclusively, for foreign operations. All the players in this fiasco are CIA contractors.

They work very well with the 'in-house' spy apparatus the CIA set up for domestic affairs.

tim in vermont said...

Glenn Greenwald, Michael Tracey, and Matt Taibbi, lefties all, are doing some great reporting on this. Basically Trump has been pinned on his foreign policy toward Russia, and is forced by Democrats to let Assange die in prison by the accusations of Russian collusion.

Why Democrats think that we should be ginning up a war fever towards a nuclear armed nation is beyond me, but ARM likes to read the neocons, maybe he can explain why we deplorables should be sending our children to fight. Surely The Bulwark can explain it!

MayBee said...

I think about the "Reset" button (and the "reset" policy) and I just laugh and laugh about the current red scare.

dreams said...

The dems know that if they just keep lying, a lot of people will believe them, they'll believe what they want to hear.

Michael K said...

Meanwhile, China eats our lunch. Wonder why Democrats ignore China?

Bought and paid for ?

Inga said...

I see you people are still clinging to your conspiracy theories that Ukraine owns Crowdstrike and they have Hillary’s server, that Ukraine, not Russia hacked the DNC, or that it was an inside job perpetrated by Seth Rich who was then killed by the Clintons. Such imaginative theories! Little by little as I expected, the truth about Russia collusion and Trump is coming to light. Trump thinks he got away with it with Russia, but he didn’t count on being caught red handed when he tried it with Ukraine. HE GOT CAUGHT. He thought he was above the law, he wasn’t and he isn’t.

Also those of you that think that the impeachment hearings are not going well truly live in a fantasy world.

Oh let’s not forget about the pedophile ring in the basement of the Pizza parlor.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why is it legal to investigate Trump?

Not Biden?
Not Hillary?

Why?

Are we living in fascist totalitarian democratic control state?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why is Inga allowed to post?

narciso said...

this was the deal carter page put together a dozen years ago,

https://streetwiseprofessor.com/the-judo-discount/

the rosneft one was worse, steele was a disgruntled firm operative, who went to work for among other oleg deripaska, yes manaforts business partner, and the end of mark warners back channel

Inga said...

“Why is Inga allowed to post?”

Dunno. Send in Guiliani to get to the bottom of it!

DarkHelmet said...

If it's in the New Yorker, it's garbage.
If it's written by Jane Mayer it's garbage.
If its purpose is to rehabilitate a slimy outfit like Fusion it's garbage.

So this is triple garbage.

Trump made a huge error by failing to fire the honchos of the 'intelligence community' on Day 1.

Paul Snively said...

But Steele tells the authors, “These people simply have no idea what they’re talking about.”

Here's the problem, chief: after $55M and ten months of investigation by literally the top law enforcement agency in the United States, which concludes there was no collusion, an ex-British-spy who is, at best, part and parcel of the post-WWII order Americans elected President Trump to overcome doesn't get to say "take my word for it." Especially when the spy's report contains any bullshit and is known to have been financed by the Clinton campaign and the DNC.

narciso said...

downer worked for mi 6, but was a board member with Huawei, who owned 51% of Norton/symantec

Michael K said...

Little by little as I expected, the truth about Russia collusion and Trump is coming to light. Trump thinks he got away with it with Russia,

Crazy does as crazy is.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Well, based on this analysis, Boeing is doing a bang-up job with its 737 Max, aren't they.

n.n said...

The Soviets launched a 100,000 dollar grenade from social media platforms, mostly steered and frequented by statists, liberals, anarchists, and bots.

That said, based on Clinton's words and actions, affirmative and absent, the Soviet agent wanted Trump, the liberal orangutan, to be the candidate. Then Trump was elected President, threatened to carry out due diligence over the objections of his minders, and witch hunts, warlock trials (e.g. press), and impeachment were their only viable remedies.

Planned President in progress.

Hagar said...

Remember the James Rosen case?
And AG Eric Holder on national TV said his only regret was that he did not take more trouble to hide his tracks in the perjurious affidavit presented to FISA.
So for the attack on the Trump administration they did. The Steele dossier and other material was cooked up in Washington and sent abroad to parties owing our "deep state" a favor or two with instructions to "retype" it in the local language and return to sender via a different route.
Thus "intelligence received from foreign sources" and qualifying with the FISA requirements for "wiretapping" permits.

Ambrose said...

If Putin's goal was to 'sow discord and disunity with the United States", the Democrats (including their injunction issuer judges) have certainly been his willing accomplices with the "resistance" and complete refusal to work with, or allow the administration to govern.

n.n said...

Obama spied (and imprisoned), Clinton colluded (and profited), Biden et al obstructed (e.g. quid pro Joe), DNC denied (democratic pretense), activists (e.g. antifa, "=") raged, social media platforms steered, and journolists held warlock trials (e.g. trial by press). Here's to progress.

Browndog said...

So much unnecessary typing.

Libs like Inga used to use one word to shut down all discussion on anything they didn't want discussed:

BENGHAZI!

Anonymous said...

Playing devil's advocate here: The reason Putin wanted Trump to win, even though he knew that Trump would endorse policies inimical to Putin's interest, is that he correctly anticipated what a bunch of fucking retards the democrats would be when they lost. He was correct in estimating that we'd be stuck with all this bullshit for years. He underestimated how much Trump would get done in spite of the democrats.

narciso said...

now fusion worked with derwick partners, laundering Venezuelan ill gotten cash in south florida real estate and defaming Venezuelan dissidents, simpsons earlier partnership with sue Schmidt, worked for a pro Iranian emirate prince

Wilbur said...

"Why is Inga allowed to post?"

You actually read her posts? If it's more than a sentence or two, I fly on by. 20-30 words is my about my limit for nonsense. No time for more.

rcocean said...

Hey it could be 70% true - cause Mr. Steele says so.

William said...

Remember how the intelligence services got it completely wrong when it came to Iraqi weapons of mass destruction? Well, they learned their lesson, reformed their agencies and were thus able to warn us of the dangers of a Trump Presidency.

rcocean said...

The old Left-wing trick. No Leftist is every guilty, we'll just never know the truth (cf: Hiss and Rosenbergs for 50 years). No Left-wing attack on Conservatives is ever proven false, "Hey its possible". (cf: kanvanaugh and C. Thomas) - its true until proven 100% false.

Meanwhile, every Conservative is guilty is sin, and any of their attacks on the Left are "Without evidence" and 100% wrong - until proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

n.n said...

the Democrats (including their injunction issuer judges)

Does the Constitution sanction national injunctions from local and regional authorities? Their persistent viability in our national system is one of the few viable points of criticism.

rcocean said...

Mayer slandered and lied about Clarence Thomas, that she's still doing the same with Trump isn't surprising. She was also Defending billy bob Clinton in 1998.

narciso said...

now fusions third partner, catan is very focused on the mexico issue

dreams said...

Wonder why Mueller didn't investigate if Russia was involved with the Steel Dossier.

“Not once in the 448-page tome does Mueller mention an investigation into whether Russia interfered with the U.S. presidential election by feeding dossier author Christopher Steele misinformation.”

https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/26/new-fusion-gps-info-confirms-the-special-counsel-probe-was-a-hit-job/

Marcus Bressler said...

"Why is Inga allowed to post?"

Seconded.

THEOLDMAN

rcocean said...

Nobody - including the Russians - thought Trump would win. Its already been proven that Putin was trying to sow discord in the US.

rcocean said...

Jane Mayer 1990 - Hey, I talked to Mr. Hiss and he denied everything. Case Closed.

narciso said...

yes, we can address mayer's Michael wolff type reporting re Reagan in landslide, her defamation of Clarence Thomas in strange justice, made into an hbo movie, her devils advocacy for gitmo terrorists,

rcocean said...

Stop talking about Inga. No one cares!

n.n said...

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction

One of several reasons cited to justify closure of Iraq War 1.0.

they learned their lesson, reformed their agencies

Elected Obama, twice, and progress of the greater Middle East War 2.0.

narciso said...

but hiss came from an established Baltimore family, he was a clerk for oliver Wendell holmes, a committee staffer for senator nye (where his leaks, probably kickstarted the isolationist movement, perhaps his first job for the ware spy ring,)

viator said...

The entire deep state coup d'etat is collapsing like a explosively demolished public housing project. Nasty (for the deep state) revelations are appearing almost hourly now. The whole gang of conspirators are woven together like a king rat.

Francisco D said...

I was going to read the article until I saw who wrote it.

Good judgement.

I don't read Jane Mayer articles, watch CNN/MSNBC or listen to the ravings of woke celebrities. And I studiously ignore posts by Inga and Chuck.

Life is too short for such stupid bullshit.

traditionalguy said...

Giuliani must have the cabal really pissing in their pants. It is amazing what a real trial lawyer can do when he has real evidence. He is such a threat to the Cabal that the Cabal has just wasted another $100 million of its loot to paying its best writers to narrate story lines about more and better false evidence.

And meanwhile they have to worry about what a real whistle blower named Epstein has told Barr. That fellow who is reinstating the Federal Death Penalty.

William said...

I'm reading a book about the early days of WWI. The Germans when they first occupied Belgium executed thousands of innocent Belgian civilians. The Germans really did commit war crimes, although not on a WWII scale nor, to be fair, on the level of the Belgian occupation of the Congo. The press made much of the German crimes and luridly exaggerated them. The Germans did not cut the arms off children nor routinely rape Belgian women. After the war, the reporting, particularly in leftist journals, changed. They claimed that there were no war crimes and that the reporting was all British and French propaganda. The press managed to reverse their narratives without ever hitting upon the truth......The old saw says that journalism is the rough, first draft of history. Well, they would say that wouldn't they. Over the years, you can say that whatever mistakes journalists have made, they have succeeded in protecting their reputation.

narciso said...

simpson does public relations for oligarchs (like those involved in the magnitsky matter) and princes, like keeping the anti Iranian emir of ras al khalmah off the the throne,) which entails working with Russians there as well,

tim in vermont said...

Inga posted a word salad she concocted out of strawmen. I don’t know why it bothers you guys that she posts here as long as she stays on topic somewhat. It’s a good indication of how weak the arguments of the left are. For instance, she has the DNC server in Ukraine, when the story from the Ukrainian press is that the server that hacked the DNC was purported to be in Ukraine and Crowdstrike is purported to have examined it. Also she seems to think that it is illegal to investigate Biden and that there is nothing improper about the Biden family taking millions from that impoverished nation in protection money for oligarchs.

The New York Times, which was printing leaks from Bruce Ohr painting the Russians as nefarious villains and Trump as great admirer of Putin now says that this is Russian disinformation. So what if it is? We are talking about Trump’s state of mind when he asked for the investigation of Ukrainian interference, and at the time, it seemed more than a little plausible and in the interest of the United States of America to get to the bottom of it.

Howard said...

Hey Assholes. Good Morning. It's rude, inappropriate and damaging to this blog to respond to, engage with or comment about banned non persons. The same applies to the moderation policy.

As they say: Shut your filthy cocksucker.

Do you get me, sweetheart?

"Its not a subtle point you're making"

Bobb said...

Steele: Russia decisively interfered with the election. Putin preferred Trump to win over Clinton. (13 words)

Reality: Russia almost interfered with the election. Putin preferred Clinton to win over Trump. (10 of Steele's 13 words are correct. Over 76% correct which is "impressive" in the spy community.)

narciso said...

yes dezinforma is a classic pattern, now bruce should have been able to discern from the tidpits Nellie was leaking to him,

https://amgreatness.com/2019/11/25/a-farm-kid-thwarts-the-coup/

gilbar said...

hey Igna!
I think AOC is talking to You!
There Is Too Much Division In Our Country, When Addition And Subtraction Are Hard Enough

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If the Steele dossier is so accurate, why are there so many Steele dossier deniers?
Mueller claims to not know about it.

narciso said...

the campaign legal center, soros flying monkeys started the attack on guiliani, by proxy,

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


“Blogger AllenS said...
This whole idea that Russia wanted Trump to win is ridiculous. If anything, they wanted Clinton to win, and now Biden, for the simple fact that both can be bought.”

Exactly. Explain why, in Althouse’s fabled One Paragraph, the Russians would want Trump to win. They already had Hillary compromised so why take a chance on an unknown? And don’t tie yourself in knots trying to explain. The history of Russian intelligence, be it in it’s Imperial or Commie iterations, is one of pragmatism and exploiting obvious weaknesses. They took one look at the Clinton’s blatant and desperate greed and knew they could use flour paste for bait.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Why is this puff piece for Steele and the dossier written and published now? Impeachment failure. They are just so disappointed.”

My guess is the reason is that in a mere couple of weeks the DOJ OIG report on FISA abuse drops. IG Horowitz is scheduled to testify in the Senate the first week of December. And, the original Carter Page FISA application, and its three extensions, are indirectly dependent on the Steele Dossier.

narciso said...

its the holidays, they do reruns, if you see the stitch on the fast ball,

narciso said...

you can tell if it's a real pitch, now at the time of the events in question, Bolton was speaking to zelensky, because Ukraine was considering selling a certain piece of tech to china, an ill advised move,

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Fiona Hill said Steele got played by Putin. She’s no Trumpist. I smell desperation in this attempt to revive Steele’s reputation.

Birkel said...

None of it was correct on important substance.
Not one jot or tittle.

Big Mike said...

Well, based on this analysis, Boeing is doing a bang-up job with its 737 Max, aren't they.

@BADuBois, yup. The sound a 737 MAX makes when it hits the ground nose first at full speed is a heck of a bang, all right.

Howard said...

After the hearings it is important to keep hope alive among the devoted. Since there is sufficient overlap between the Ukraine quid pro quo and Russian interference on behalf of Trump, this is a perfect seesaw Segway to spark uncomfortable Thanksgiving dinner conversations

narciso said...

the rest of the story,


https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/26/new-fusion-gps-info-confirms-the-special-counsel-probe-was-a-hit-job/

narciso said...

now among the other operatives burned by Tomlinson, was steele's partner chris burrows, and the future uk ambassador to Ukraine, Raymond asquith (from those asquith) who would end up working for Russian interests as well,

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The British need to keep out of our elections.

Mike Sylwester said...

Russian Spy Revelation Raises Questions on CIA Information, Potential Links to Steele Dossier, an article by Jeff Carlson.

CIA Director John Brennan's main source about Putin's plot to undermine Americans' faith in their Democracy was Oleg Smolenkov. Brennan kept Olenkov's reports extraordinarily secret. Brennan would put the reports into an envelope an hand-deliver them to the White House, where they were read by only President Obama and about five other top officials.

Despite the super secrecy, however, Smolenkov's reporting is included in Christopher Steele's Dossier.

(In 1990-1993, during the Russian Presidency Boris Yeltsin, Steele had worked in the United Kingdom's Moscow Embassy as an MI-6 officer. At that time, Steele was about 26-29 years old. Based on that Embassy experience, Steele as a private citizen in 2016 still was able to phone his sources in Russia and collect intelligence about Putin's super-secret plots.)

Although Smolenkov did not communicate directly with Vladimir Putin, he worked directly for Yuri Ushakov, who was a foreign-policy advisor in President Vladimir Putin's Presidential Administration. Brennan claimed that Smolenkov heard from Ushakov that Putin was saying that Russian Intelligence was plotting to meddle in the USA's 2016 election in order to undermine Americans' faith in their Democracy.

Steele did not name Smolenkov in his Dossier, but he indicated Ushakov as a source.

(continued in a following comment)

Mike Sylwester said...

(Continued from my comment at 9:16 AM)

Steele did not name Smolenkov in his Dossier, but he indicated Ushakov as a source. Carlson writes:

[quote; emphasis added]

.... Ushakov, the boss of the suspected Russian spy [Smolenkov], is directly referenced in the Steele dossier in a Sept. 14, 2016, memo—one of three memos that were prepared in advance of a meeting between Steele and FBI agents in Rome on Sept. 19, 2016:

Speaking in confidence to a trusted compatriot in mid-September 2016, a senior member of the Russian Presidential Administration (PA) commented on the political fallout from recent western media revelations about Moscow’s intervention, in favor of Donald TRUMP and against Hillary CLINTON, in the US presidential election. The PA official [Ushakov] reported that the issue had become incredibly sensitive and that President PUTIN had issued direct orders that Kremlin and government insiders should not discuss it in public or even in private,” the memo read.

Despite this, the PA official confirmed, from direct knowledge, that the gist of the allegations was true. Putin had been receiving conflicting advice on interfering from three separate and expert groups. On one side had been the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei KISLYAK, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with an independent and informal network run by presidential foreign policy advisor, Yuri USHAKOV (KISLYAK’s predecessor in Washington) who had urged caution and the potential negative impact from Russia from the operation/s.


What makes this particularly curious is that by the time the Steele memo was written in mid-September 2016, Brennan had already delivered information on this matter to the White House:

“Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried ‘eyes only’ instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides,” The Washington Post reported on June 23, 2017.

The fact that the CIA information and the Steele dossier contained the same information raises the question of whether the “senior member of the Russian Presidential Administration” mentioned in the dossier is the same as the CIA Russian spy.

This, in turn, would raise the question of how Steele appears to have ended up with the same information as the CIA.

This, in turn, would raise the question of how Steele appears to have ended up with the same information as the CIA.

[end quote]

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The Truly frightening aspect of the danger and threat we face with Russian is that Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein are being GROOMED by RUSSIA... to be Russian Agents!

narciso said...

if you're wondering, Tomlinson, is whose list, that was pilfered at the beginning of skyfall,

JaimeRoberto said...

Unproven. You mean like without evidence?

It doesn't take a genius super spy to figure out that the Russians have been trying to sow discord. They've been doing it for decades. And we do the same thing too by training "techno experts" and contributing to various NGOs.

hombre said...

It’s doubtful that even cynical Russians could predict the levels of disruptive sedition of which Democrats and their consorts are capable unless Russians are pulling the strings using American communists - a distinct possibility.

Otherwise, it strains credulity to think Putin would rather have a loose cannon like Trump as POTUS rather than the Clinton grifters who were already on his payroll.

narciso said...

the m.o is similar to the Zinoviev letter, that was a piece of dezinforma, alleging a soviet provoked strike with the order coming from the above named official, in reality it was put together by Russian emigres, likely in league with Morton Rosenblum (aka Sidney reilly,)

Howard said...

It's comforting to know that you people are on the case defending our democracy. You deserve a metal or something

narciso said...

this is who I was referring to,

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-spook-the-leak-the-editor-hisrival-1191987.html

tim in vermont said...

Howard, you have some drool on your chin.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

This is CNN:

"CNN’s Stelter’s Guest Says Trump Is ‘Destructive Cult Leader’ Who Uses ‘Mind Control"


The collective left raise both arms in the air and scream "Yes!"

narciso said...

in the early 80s, thanks to kgb fixer victor louis, (who helped him acquire the kruschev memoir) strobe Talbott dutifully relayed the soviet line, which was Reagan was bad, and going to blow up the planet, conversely Andropov the butcher of Budapest, the keeper of the lubyanka was painted as progressive, because he liked jazz,

Roughcoat said...

Thanks, Vlad!

narciso said...

back in that era, soviet policy included promoting the nuclear freeze, through the campaign for a livable world, that biden was affiliated with, through ted Kennedy's back channel to andropov

AllenS said...

Howard said...
It's comforting to know that you people are on the case defending our democracy. You deserve a metal or something

Howard, put the crack pipe down.

Mike Sylwester said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nonapod said...

If Christopher Steele was such a brilliant spy, why did he lard his report with so much demonstrable bullshit? Why didn't he just report the straight facts? Why did he need he feel the need to include a bunch of what was salacious nonsense that was obviously concocted by Russians?

People like Steele are dangerous idiots. Their stupidity and arrogance do far more damage to the Western democracy than Putin and all his most cunning Russian spies could ever dream to.


Mike Sylwester said...

Following up my own comments at 9:16 and 9:20 AM

-----

Why does Christopher Steele's Dossier report that Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen traveled to Prague in July 2016 to meet with Russian Intelligence agents as part of the Kremlin's plot to meddle in the USA's Presidential election?

The reason is that an FBI contractor was allowed to search through the NSA database and found there that a Michael Cohen had traveled to Prague in July. The FBI contractor was looking for information about Michael Cohen, because Cohen was involved in a proposal that Trump build a hotel in Moscow.

By some route, that information about Cohen in Prague was delivered to Christopher Steele, who put it into his Dossier.

The idea was that this information in the Dossier eventually would be verified by the NSA database. John Brennan would argue the following logic:

1) Steele reports, based on his sources in Russian Intelligence, that Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen was in Prague in July 2016.

2) The NSA database confirms that Cohen was in Prague in July 2016.

3) The NSA confirmation proves that the Dossier is reliably based on Steele's sources in Russian Intelligence.

Unfortunately for Steele, however, the Michael Cohen in Prague in July 2016 was not the same Michael Cohen who was Trump's lawyer.

Oops !!!

------

For the same reason, Smolenkov's reports about what Ushakov allegedly was hearing from Putin was put into the Dossier. Brennan would argue the following logic.

1) Steele reports, based on his sources in Russian Intelligence, that Ushakov is saying that Putin is plotting to meddle in the US election in order to undermine Americans' faith in their Democracy.

2) The CIA's super-secret source Smolenkov is reporting that Putin is plotting to meddle in the US election in order to undermine Americans' faith in their Democracy.

3) Smolenkov's confirmation of Steele's reports about Putin's plotting proves that the Dossier is reliably based on Steele's sources in Russian Intelligence.

Clyde said...

If Putin really was trying to get Trump elected, as opposed to trying to incite chaos, then he has to have been really regretting it ever since.

The Clintons were pay-to-play and for sale to the highest bidder. We know that because the Russians paid Bill Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a speech, and we all know that the Clinton Foundation was just a slush fund for people (foreign and domestic) to pay money to buy influence with a prospective Clinton administration. The Democrats were more aligned with Russian foreign policy objectives as well, opposing fracking in the U.S. and other forms of energy independence for America, which would have kept oil prices higher and thus more profitable for places like Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Trump, by contrast, killed Russian mercenaries in Syria, armed the Ukrainians, and kept the fracking going full-blast. If Putin preferred that to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, then he was a damn fool.

buwaya said...

All of which raises the question of the purpose of the CIA and the FBI.
These organizations, with all their powers, are uncontrollable and a danger to the state, or the state in the form that the US public understands it.

Part of the American problem is that the US people simply do not understand or refuse to understand how they are governed, the difference between the material in their civics classes and the realities of power. They can even state the problems between theory and reality, but it is obvious that even while doing so they show that deeper down they are not integrating that understanding, that the fantasy still rules them.

These organizations, the CIA and FBI, do not have analogs, in terms of their influence, in most of the world - though there are some. Even in less ostensibly "free" countries these police and surveillance powers tend to be much more devolved and limited.

Mike Sylwester said...

Skylark at 8:02 AM
Glenn Greenwald, Michael Tracey, and Matt Taibbi, lefties all, are doing some great reporting on this.

Also, Aaron MatƩ and Stephen Cohen at Nation.

Also, Consortium News and Moon of Alabama.

Nonapod said...

Trump, by contrast, killed Russian mercenaries in Syria, armed the Ukrainians, and kept the fracking going full-blast. If Putin preferred that to Hillary Clinton and the Democrats, then he was a damn fool.

To be fair, at the time nobody really had a good sense of what Trump was actually going to be like as President. It's possible that Putin believed a Trump presidency would be chaos and that he could somehow blackmail Trump or that Trump would be bribable? Who knows? Of course, Hillary Clinton may well have been more bribable or blackmailable. Hindsight's 20/20.

The Trump presidency has been somewhat chaotic. It's certainly been culturally roiling. The media and the left have been going bonkers since the 2016 election. But as you said, the Trump presidency has also been very bad for the Russians. So if it's indeed true that Putin wanted Trump, he obviously made a very bad bet.

hombre said...

Howard said...
“It's comforting to know that you people are on the case defending our democracy. You deserve a metal or something.”

"... It’s the big fact of American life now, isn’t it? That we are patronized by our inferiors” Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 2016.

Big Mike said...

"Simpson and Fritsch acknowledge that several of Steele’s most sensational allegations remain unproven and that others were almost surely wrong... [but] 'a spy whose sources get it 70 percent right is considered to be one of the best'..."

Simpson and Fritsch are simply lying. When everything that can be independently verified about a report is false, the parts that are “unproven,” meaning cannot be independently verified are treated with heightened skepticism and the credibility of the spy goes down accordingly.

It appears that Brennan’s CIA is even less accurate in its intelligence assessments than Tenet’s CIA, which is the one that claimed the evidence for WMD in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was a “slam dunk.”

Big Mike said...

@hombre, I read that column by Peggy Noonan, and I also read the latest one she wrote. I think she’s joined the ranks of our inferiors who are patronizing us.

Qwinn said...

buwaya: The Left did away with anything resembling "civics classes" decades ago. I went to high school in the 80s and never had a true civics class.

Qwinn said...

Basically, Generation X learned civics from Schoolhouse Rock.

Big Mike said...

Does this mean Bernie is a Russian Stooge?

@John Lynch, Bernie really is a Russian stooge, you know.

Qwinn said...

I am still amazed on a daily basis that the Left can act as if they've always been at war with Russia, after having blatantly sided with them and mocked any opposition to them for 80 years prior.

Qwinn said...

Cause, seriously. The Venona Project. Reams and reams of intercepted Soviet cables showing leftists colluding with Soviets the entire cold war, right up to at least the Vice Presidency and the IMF, and lefties everywhere still pretend it doesn't exist.

bagoh20 said...

I've been reading and hearing for three years how the Russians wanted Trump to win, but I have not heard why they would want that. Hillary clearly would have been much better for them in both policy and cooperation. You simply pay her or her husband and you can have anything, and beside, the Clintons and Putin share that special propensity to have their enemies suddenly get murdered. They could share stories and tips on that hobby.

And as I'm often reminded, Hillary won the popular vote, so they didn't even succeed except that Hillary was too arrogant or stupid to play by the rules of the game: the Electoral College. Or are they telling me that the Russians know how to win an election better than the Democrats? Again, why would they prefer Trump with a strong American economy and energy dominance by the U.S.?

Yancey Ward said...

Simpson and Fritsch belong in prison. There isn't a single substantive allegation in the Steele Dossier that has been proven to be true- not a single one. You don't believe me, then read the fucking Mueller Report. There is a vast amount of circumstantial evidence that the Dossier was a collaborative effort between Simpson, Steele, the Ohrs, and probably John Brennan. The Rosetta Stone of this conspiracy is going to be that Brennan directly or indirectly was Steele's source for overall narrative about Putin's personal involvement, and that Brennan basically made the entire thing up.

The question you have ask yourself is this- why didn't Robert Mueller or the Obama DoJ subpoena the DNC servers and all of CrowdStrike's information and analysis of them? This was such a simple thing to do, and if the narrative was the truth, it would have served the interests of Clinton and Mueller to be able to prove with much harder evidence that the Russians did hack the DNC. And yet, no one subpoenaed those servers or the full analysis CrowdStrike claims to have done. Really, the biggest pieces of available physical evidence to support the narrative was completely unexamined by the Mueller team and the Obama Administration prior to the special counsel's appointment?

bagoh20 said...

If I was Putin, I'd be pulling for any of the Democrats running now or in 2016. They would weaken the American economy, our resolve to fight for ourselves, and most importantly they would all cripple the U.S. energy sector to the direct benefit of Russia's. They openly run on that shit.

Anonymous said...

"Mueller to be able to prove with much harder evidence that the Russians did hack the DNC"

Perhaps examining the physical objects would give no more information than they already had. Funny how Occam's Razor never led you to that, just a bunch of conspiracy theories.

Any hacker worth their salt should be able to keep any identifying information from that server, analyzing it would have been a total waste of time.

But don't let that stop you from setting up straw men to knock down.

Original Mike said...

"Or are they telling me that the Russians know how to win an election better than the Democrats?"

IIRC, one of the more ridiculous charges leveled by Hillary and the democrats is that the Trump campaign shared polling data with the Russians so that the Russians knew where to spend their meager Facebook dollars.

Yancey Ward said...

"Perhaps examining the physical objects would give no more information than they already had. Funny how Occam's Razor never led you to that, just a bunch of conspiracy theories."

The problem with this theory, Mark, is that Mueller also didn't have CrowdStrike's unredacted analysis- just the conclusions. Mueller didn't even have the mirrors of the servers. In short, Mueller didn't have access to anything other than CrowdStrike's claim itself. You don't do an investigation that way unless you don't really want to do an investigation at all. That is a proper application of Occam's Razor. If Mueller had ever gone to trial having to use these conclusions, no judge would have allowed it since the defense would properly get to do their own analysis of the on actual physical evidence, which, of course, Mueller couldn't provide.

I realize being an idiot is part of your stock in trade, but you really need to up your game.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's OK to use Russians to dig up dirt on any non-D, But R not allowed to talk to Russians ever for any reason without a Schitt-investigation.

Original Mike said...

"Any hacker worth their salt should be able to keep any identifying information from that server, analyzing it would have been a total waste of time."

And yet, the Intelligence Community assert that the Russians did hack that server based on Crowdstrike finding Russian fingerprints.

Qwinn said...

Mark,

Funny, considering that Crowdstrike claimed that the Russians left their fingerprints all over that DNC server, and Mueller and team just took their word for it. Guess they just assumed that, even though any hacker worth their salt would be able to hide their own identity, those big huge Russian footprints HAD to be legit. And even though Crowdstrike was on the Dems payroll. And even though the transfer speeds on the metadata require that it have been an inside job.

Doesn't contorting yourself like a pretzel like that cause severe joint pain?

AZ Bob said...

The CIA uses private contractors, almost exclusively, for foreign operations. All the players in this fiasco are CIA contractors.

Procuring a CIA contractor is a means for writing the narrative. And if it falls apart, the blame is on someone else. What a great technique for bureaucrats.

Yancey Ward said...

Roger Stone, in his pre-trial motions, tried to get access to the evidence available to the Mueller Investigation that the Russians hacked the DNC and turned the e-mails over to Wikileaks. Stone did this in an attempt to demonstrate that his lies about having true access to Wikileaks' leadership were immaterial- i.e. if Stone could show that the Russians weren't the source for the Wikileaks leaks, then his lies weren't really criminal obstruction. Mueller's team replied that they had nothing to give Stone, not that they didn't have to do so- all they had was the redacted conclusions from Crowdstrike, not any of the underlying evidence itself.

stan said...

Wait, the same FBI, CIA and rest of the intelligence community that was lying to the FISA court, illegally leaking like crazy and working feverishly to torpedo Trump using the Steele Dossier should be relied in assessing the reliability of the Steele Dossier? Whoa. Either Mayer Times is brain dead stupid or she thinks we are. Or both. Doesn't she know that not all Americans are liberal cultists? Some of us actually think.

wildswan said...

Sometimes I have this mad dream that the Russians and the Chinese leaders understand very clearly how destructive socialism is having seen its effects in their own countries and their joint plan has become to advance socialism within the United States as the most crippling and damaging attack that could ever be made on us. Put "commissars" everywhere ruining education and science but call them "diversity administrators" and knowledge and efficiency grinds to a halt - as they very well know. And the good thing about this plan, from their point of view, would be that they would have all the American commies, the last commie believers, in place and ready to work for this goal, leftovers from the Russian / Chinese Communist International. The Russian and Chinese neo-nationalists wouldn't even have to finance them that much because these are Americans who would just think they know how to do socialism so it won't be miserable flop. (Of course it's all been a miserable flop but that's another story.) Does this explain people like Bernie Sanders, Hillary, John Brennan, Rachel Maddow? Falling toward sleep, I often wonder.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

If you're on the left, you buy the bullshit and lies wholesale.
Schitt is god. Maddow is the prophet.

Birkel said...

https://pjmedia.com/spengler/a-national-nightmare-andrew-mccarthy-exposes-the-plot-against-the-president/

It looks like the "intelligence agencies" have been performing ops against America.

Yancey Ward said...

Here is what Occam's Razor should tell you- the DNC should have wanted CrowdStrike's analysis independently corroborated by the FBI and the Mueller team, and Mueller's team, stacked with Clinton supporters, should have wanted to be able to trumpet such independent corroboration, and yet none of them did. Occam's Razor suggests they withheld the evidence because it didn't support their narrative, and it suggests the Mueller team didn't subpoena it for the exact same reason. It is easy to lie in a report if you don't have to release the evidence, and it is harder to plant the evidence to support your lie.

I am guessing, if the Russians did hack the server, they did cover their tracks completely in doing so, as you wrote, so CrowdStrike lied about being able to demonstrate it was the GRU doing the hacking. That is why the DNC refused to turn anything over other than the conclusion- the lie would be revealed. This is why Mueller should have had the servers subpoenaed, but curiously didn't even try.

mtrobertslaw said...

U.S. Intelligence Agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the last presidential election by trying to destroy Hillary.

Therefore, Russia meddled in the last presidential election trying to destroy Hillary.

Um, I think this argument is in need of a few more premises.

narciso said...



Heres a twist:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Avery1776/status/1199094924765007874

Drago said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers: "If you're on the left, you buy the bullshit and lies wholesale.
Schitt is god. Maddow is the prophet."

If you're on the left AND LLR-left, you buy the bullshit and lies wholesale.
Schitt is god. Maddow is the prophet.

FIFY

Drago said...

Remember, all of these same lefties told us not that long ago thinking Hillary and the DNC paid for the hiax dossier was itself a conspiracy theory.

Every step of the way for the last 4 years we have been told each later confirmed fact was a conspiracy theory....right up to the moment that fact is verified and the entire left/dems/LLR-left flips on a dime to the new talking point which is alway "hey, we all already knew that and it was all totally justified and besides its old news!!"

Like clockwork.

narciso said...

More of this:


https://mobile.twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1199372816551948288

mccullough said...

MI-6 is a fucking joke. They have been more pro-Russian than the KGB and SVR ever we’re.

Steele has been on the Russians payroll for a long time. He’s Kim Philby redux

Anonymous said...

"Doesn't contorting yourself like a pretzel like that cause severe joint pain?"

I don't know, Yancey is basing his argument on Roger Stone's theories.

That's a Gordian level pretzel your side has put itself in.

narciso said...

Well im basing it on jeff carlsons analytics of the malware, why would use a non russian website, instead of yandex ru as a host.

Kansas Scout said...

Of course Steele is defending his work product. His livelihood depends on a successful defense. His bona fides depends on the veracity of Russian resources that may well be double agents.And if not double agents then it's possible they knew the insider working for the CIA and fed them false info. If Russia set out to sow discord they succeeded wildly beyond all belief and that was facilitated by our own Intelligence agencies in cooperation with the Democrats and Republican elites.

narciso said...

Well he has worked for deripaska and fusionwhich does public relations for oligarchs. His middleman was adam walfman who had contacts with the russian foreign ministry

Yancey Ward said...

Mark,

It isn't Stone's theory- it is the prosecution's reply to Stone's request- an actual court document- they literally told Stone what they had and it wasn't the actual evidence, just the conclusion that stated, "The Russians hacked the DNC." That was it- it was all Mueller ever had- CrowdStrike's unverified conclusion.

Try again, but try using a brain cell this time.

narciso said...

Some speculated that golitayn was a double agent because of what he relayed to angleton, but his info was generally pretty good.

narciso said...

Soeaking of doubles


https://m.jpost.com/American-Politics/Ilhan-Omar-working-for-Qatar-Florida-court-hears-609003

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Brennen is corrupt and a constant fixture on Democrat party "news" CNN.

Kit Carson said...

it is unlikely putin wanted trump to win.

what putin wants most is russian babies. next he wants oil prices to go up.

hillary guaranteed higher oil prices, trump the opposite. for example supporting or opposing fracking.

the narrative that putin favored trump is pure and intended misdirection.

Yancey Ward said...

The government's "verification" of the CrowdStrike conclusion consists entirely of getting a copy of CrowdStrike's conclusion and redacted description of the evidence. That isn't true verification, and no court would allow such evidence to be presented as such. It would the equivalent of having CrowdStrike doing finger print analysis for a crime, but not turning the actual evidence from which the lifts were obtained over to the prosecution. You wouldn't be able to present the evidence in court due to chain of custody issues. Same thing here with the servers and the mirrors of the servers- the government obtained neither of the latter, and admitted it in a court document.

rightguy said...

Putin wanted Hillary bad as he owned her lock,stock, and barrel: Uranium One, mint copy of all her classified SOS emails with a detailed acct of all her corrupt uber-funding of the Clinton Foundation... All she could point to was her ludicrous "reset button"

Meanwhile, President Trump has given Putin wing-tips to crotch more than once : jacking up the US oil industry to deny Russia zillions in oil revenue, putting ABM capable missiles on his doorstep, Javelin anti-tank weapons to the Ukranians...

Howard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Mike said...

Mueller to be able to prove with much harder evidence that the Russians did hack the DNC.

Except for one, tiny, inconvenient fact. The bit rate at which the DNC Email archive file was downloaded was several times too fast for the data to have been downloaded across the Internet. The rate was, however, consistent with downloading through a USB port to a removable storage device.

This is not to say that the Russians did not hack the DNC servers — DNC servers and Hillary Clinton’s Email server would have been high value targets, and there is anecdotal evidence that the RNC servers were also targeted, but the attacks were thwarted by IT staff that was quite a bit more on the ball. However! The particular hack that resulted in Assange receiving the DNC Emails has to have been an inside job. The download bit rate doesn’t work, otherwise.

For the benefit of conspiracy theorists, this does not necessarily imply that Seth Rich was the person who did the download, physical security seems to have been pretty lax at the DNC.

Drago said...

Yancey Ward: "The government's "verification" of the CrowdStrike conclusion consists entirely of getting a copy of CrowdStrike's conclusion and redacted description of the evidence."

It gets even better.

We now know, from testimony and evidence provided already, that the laughable "17 intelligence agencies all agree..." BS really boils down to ONE (1!) agency: Brennan's corrupt Crossfire Hurricane CIA.

First off, only 3 agencies even have the capabilities to analyze and assess such information:
CIA (Brennan)
NSA (Adm Rogers)
FBI (Comey)
DNI (Clapper)

Adm Rogers of the NSA did not agree with the report. Further, members of the FBI and DOJ have already gone on record that they did not play a significant role in the development of that BS interagency assessment. Clapper has just kept his mouth shut.

This disagreement (Brennan/Comey) is what led to that public spat sometime back between Comey and Brennan about just who insisted the hoax dossier be included as partial basis for the assessment (spoiler: It was Brennan directly)

This explains why of all the hack deep staters at the highest levels who are publicly complaining about Trump, it is the commie-voting Muslim Brotherhood-loving Hillary-Fanboy Brennan who is at the heart of this.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"six months before the U.S. intelligence community collectively embraced the same conclusion."

How can anyone not believe a collective?

Matt Sablan said...

Wait, was he 70% right? Thus far, no proof of collusion. No pee tapes. He was dead wrong about whoever supposedly visited Russia.

Drago said...

Matt Sablan: "Wait, was he 70% right?"

Nope.

In fact, there remains that FBI spreadsheet already given to Congress which outlined each of the key assertions made in the hoax Hillary-paid for "dossier".

In that spreadsheet not a single one of the assertions made has been verified. Not. A. Single. One.

The new 70% lie is the fallback and depends on things like: Why yes, Michael Cohen is an actual breathing human being, so that was right! Also, Michael Cohen worked for Donald Trump, so that was right! Carter Page exists so that was right! Russia is an actual nation, so that was right.

Stuff like that.

JAORE said...

Hey! Hey guys1 Listen up! I have a report, funded by our side, that PROVES the other guy is BAD! And Orange, don't forget Orange.

And it's up to 70 percent accurate.

I say we trust our reputations on the bet the rubes won't find out about the BS factor. Who is with me? Everyone? You there, media, you too?

Great, let's roll!

narciso said...

fusion was itself colluding with Russia, as pointed out above, the delegation to trump tower, was a dangle signed off by Loretta lynch, but issued by john Kerry,

narciso said...

interesting mission impossible fallout, included a dossier, about ethan hunt, and there was a twist about one of his team,

narciso said...

the preceding film, included a network of fmr international intelligence operatives who had formed a rogue nation, they become the apostles in this film,

narciso said...

meanwhile, one poll has the tories with an 80 member lead over Corbyn, the second largest suicide note in history,

Gahrie said...

I have never understood why Putin was supposed to want Trump to be president instead of Hillary.

Rick said...

Steele also was right, they argue, that 'Putin wasn’t merely seeking to create a crisis of confidence in democratic elections. He was actively pulling strings to destroy Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump,' an assessment the U.S. intelligence community also came to accept.

We're supposed to believe this was a concerted effort by Putin but somehow the only result was ~100k spent on laughably juvenile facebook memes which make Nigerian scam email look sophisticated?

Even the left's efforts to rehabilitate these charges prove how absurd their beliefs are.

bagoh20 said...

If the Russians wanted to undermine faith in our system of democracy, couldn't they just send CNN some cash? They could at least use the network for ideas.

Big Mike said...

@bagoh20, you’re sure they haven’t? Explains a lot, you know.

narciso said...

so levi parnas the basilisks key source in their anti nunes play, was apparently pinched on an opoid charge, that's why he's been singing to the prosecutor,

Earnest Prole said...

It takes either naĆÆvetĆ© or chutzpah to claim to be shocked that a foreign power wishes to intervene in our elections, not least because the US has been intervening in other nations’ elections for more than fifty years.

Seeing Red said...

I think I need to buy higher waders. What a crock.

Rick said...

Steele points out that the most critical criteria for judging disinformation is “whether there is a palpable motive for spreading it”; the ultimate Russian goal in 2016, he argues, “was to prevent Hillary Clinton from becoming president, and therefore, the idea that they would intentionally spread embarrassing information about Trump—true or not—is not logical.”

Ultimately this explains Steele, the New Yorker, and the left generally. They assume the Russian goal fits with their worldview and interpret everything to fit that framework regardless of other interpretations or contradictory evidence. In fact they dismiss contrary evidence as not logical based only on their own assumptions. Investigations require professional skepticism and these Keystone Propagandists have none.

walter said...

But Prez flexibility Obama said elections are impervious to meddling!
(Steele's pee tape story is a "composite")

walter said...

Russia’s Putin says shale oil technologies are ‘barbaric’

narciso said...

putin isn't that sharp, re that pierrong link I had earlier,


https://johnsolomonreports.com/a-dozen-document-troves-that-could-change-the-ukraine-scandal-if-trump-released-them/

Dave said...

If only the CIA had informed Mrs. Clinton of Putin's plan to keep her out of office, she could have foiled him by campaigning in the rust belt.

LA_Bob said...

Skylark said, "Anybody pushing the story that Putin preferred Trump needs to account for the Fiona Hill testimony ..."

I heard that testimony "live". It was in response to a Republican's question. Dr Hill was explicit that she had sat next to Putin at a 2011 conference and heard him say that. Awfully hard to consider Trump a "Putin stooge" when it comes to American oil production.

Clyde said, "Trump, by contrast, killed Russian mercenaries in Syria, armed the Ukrainians, and kept the fracking going full-blast."

Yep.

I would challenge some of the anti-Trump commenters here (ARM, Inga, Howard, and Chuck come to mind) what policies Trump has followed which make a tingle run up Putin's leg.

tim in vermont said...

So Steele’s rebuttal to questions about why Putin would wan the US to become an energy superpower is to reject first, ask rhetorical questions later.

I have no doubt that Putin wants to discredit our democracy, and given how the Democrats have refused to accept the election of Trump, his goal is met beyond his wildest dreams. Both sides now have lost faith in our democracy, the media has been thoroughly discredited, our elite permanent ruling class has been shown to be a kakistocracy of venal parasites.

narciso said...

the mercenaries, were the ones putin used to invade eastern Ukraine, they were are owned by prigozhin, who also owns concord catering, the outfit that bought the Russian ads, they hired a sharp American atty, Dubilier, who had worked in the Miami and new York prosecutors office,

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