Top Intelligence Officials Brief on Dossier
(January 10, 2017)
Attacks McCain While Continuing to Lie
(SOP for Trump: We Are Used to It by Now)
Keeping An
Eye on What: Lies or the Truth
After this update, the history of the “Trump-Russian / Steele
Dossier” 2016 election tampering scandal:
The
dossier's intent was to gather research for private clients, and not to validate the information at the
same level of scrutiny as journalists, Steele said in his deposition. The
deposition took place in London over the summer after a legal fight over
whether Steele would have to answer questions. The questions attorneys were allowed to ask
and that Steele would have to answer, ultimately, were very limited. Steele answered questions for hours in a somewhat tortured
process, with three sets of lawyers wrangling over American and British laws.
The
most salacious claims in the dossier are still unverified. But many of the allegations that
form the bulk of the memos have held up over time.
Those
include the claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and the claim
that there were contacts between Trump's team and Russia.
This
notably includes Steele's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw
an effort to interfere in the 2016 election. It also includes allegations of
secret contacts between Trump's team and the Russians during the campaign.
Steele
gathered this stunning information months before U.S. intelligence agencies
and Robert Mueller's office of special counsel publicly described
the Russian meddling in the election.
Post for today follows: Trump doubles
down on tweet attacks on John McCain re: new evidence about the Trump-Russia
(Steele) dossier.
Trump accuses McCain, the late Republican senator, of spreading
“the fake and totally discredited Dossier.”
Then, Trump quoted Ken
Starr, the Independent Counsel who investigated Bill Clinton (Blue Dress/Monica
Lewinsky impeachment), calling McCain’s connection to the dossier “a very
dark stain against John McCain.”
FACT: Actually
Starr didn’t say those words at all, instead on Fox and Friends Starr
said: “I think he (McCain) was an American hero.
But I’m very sorry he got implicated in this in terms of spreading this very nasty
stuff around.”
FYI: The
unverified 35-page dossier, which was leaked to media and published by
Buzz Feed in January of 2017, alleges the Trump campaign
colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 presidential
election.
It had been reported that McCain was involved in disseminating
the leaked dossier, which was compiled by former British spy
Christopher Steele. The Steele dossier was one of the starting points of
special counsel Mueller’s investigation. Mueller is believed to be preparing a
report for the attorney general.
A resolution recommending that Mueller’s report be made public
was approved by the House unanimously last week.
Trump followed all that up in another tweet: “So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his
class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media
hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.”
NOTE: Another
Trump lie: McCain was NOT last in his Naval Academy class – he was
fifth from the bottom.
FACT: Recently
unsealed court documents show that an associate of McCain, former State
Department diplomat David Kramer, had in fact was the person who shared
copies of the dossier with Buzz Feed and other media outlets.
FACT: But
that release WAS NOT “BEFORE the Election,” as Trump boldly claimed, because
Kramer testified he only was briefed on the dossier by a former British
diplomat on November 19, 2016 (nearly two weeks after Election Day).
FACT: McCain
then was briefed and then in the following weeks gave the reports alleging
conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian government to former FBI
Director James Comey.
NOTE: McCain
defended that decision to brief Comey (writing in his book: “The Restless
Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations”) that
he did what duty demanded, adding: “I discharged that obligation, and I
would do it again. Anyone who doesn’t like it can go to hell.”
McCain’s daughter Meghan, came to his defense responding to
Trump in her own tweet: “No
one will ever love you the way they loved my father.... I wish I had been given
more Saturday’s with him. Maybe spend yours with your family instead of on
twitter obsessing over mine?”
Trump’s attacks are a part of his longstanding feud with the
late Senator and former Navy combat pilot. In 2015, Trump said McCain
was not a war hero saying: “He was a war hero because he was
captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
NOTE: John
McCain had been tortured and held as a prisoner for over five years during the
Vietnam War, refusing offers of early repatriation ahead of his fellow POWs.
FACT: As
far Trump, he received student deferments during the war, and eventually was
declared ineligible to be drafted owing to a “bone spur” in his foot.
Trump never served in the military.
NOTE: In
a recent House Oversight Committee testimony, Trump’s former attorney Michael
Cohen said Trump directed him: “Not to answer the specific questions by
reporters, but rather offer simply the fact that he received a medical
deferment.”
Cohen then added: “He finished the conversation with the following comment:
‘You think I'm stupid? I wasn't going to Vietnam.’”
Finally this
related article from CNN re: Intelligence chiefs brief Trump on the Dossier (they
also testified to Congress on Russian 2016 interference and all agreed which
Trump disputes today).
Extract (January 10, 2017): Classified documents were presented to
President Obama and President-elect Trump that includes allegations that
Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information
about Trump (multiple U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings
told CNN).
The
allegations were presented in a two-page synopsis that was appended to a report
on Russian interference in the 2016 election. The allegations came, in part,
from memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative (Christopher
Steele whose past work U.S. intelligence officials consider credible).
The FBI
is investigating the credibility and accuracy of these allegations, which are
based primarily on information from Russian sources, but has not confirmed many
essential details in the memos about Mr. Trump.
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